Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Baidu, Sina, Tencent, and Yahoo.cn Censor Searches Connecting Former Ag Minister to Monsanto

On June 17, 2013, Monsanto announced that China's Ministry of Agriculture had approved the company’s Intacta soybeans, which it’s planning to launch in Brazil for the upcoming crop season. According to Monsanto:
Intacta RR2 PROTM soybeans, genetically modified to resist insects, are a cornerstone of Monsanto’s next-generation soybeans. 
The approval is “a significant milestone” and “showcases the next wave of innovation that is poised to drive the decade of the soybean at Monsanto,” Monsanto President and Chief Commercial Officer Brett Begemann said in a statement.
China's current Minister of Agriculture is Han Changfu (韩长赋). These screenshots show that searches for "Han Changfu Monsanto" (韩长赋 孟山都) and "Han Changfu Genetic Modification" (韩长赋 转基因) on Sina Weibo and Baidu return apparently uncensored results.

Sun Zhengcai (孙政才) was Minister of Agriculture from 2006-2009. These screenshots show that searches for "Sun Zhengcai Monsanto" (孙政才 孟山都) and "Sun Zhengcai Genetic Modification" (孙政才 转基因) on Sina Weibo, Baidu, Tencent's Soso, and Yahoo.cn return censored search results.
Screenshots show Baidu searches for "Sun Zhengcai Monsanto" and
"Sun Zhengcai Genetic Modification" trigger a censorship notice, but
searches for "Sun Zhengcai," "Monsanto," and "Genetic Modification"
by themselves do not.

Screenshots show Soso searches for "Sun Zhengcai Monsanto" and
"Sun Zhengcai Genetic Modification" trigger a censorship notice, but
searches for "Sun Zhengcai," "Monsanto," and "Genetic Modification"
by themselves do not.
Screenshots comparing Yahoo.cn and Yahoo.com search results for
"Sun Zhengcai Monsanto." The Yahoo.cn search results are limited to
Xinhua and China Central Television.
Sina Weibo censors searches for both Sun Zhengcai Monsanto" and
"Sun Zhengcai Genetic Modification" 
Neither Qihoo nor Sogou were censoring searches for these terms.

Translation: Sun Daluo's Court Judgment for Sharing Books and Articles

The PRC government sentenced Sun Zhiming (孙志明, who wrote under the alias Sun Daluo (孙大骆)) to one year imprisonment for the crime of "di...