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Showing posts from February, 2021

Covid-19 Series: Censorship of News Reports Critical of the Government's Response

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It is not possible to list here all of the news articles that were censored from January to April 2020. The censorship of three articles published by China's more reputable state sponsored media outlets is described in detail below. Approximately 20 more examples are listed at the bottom of this post. Caixin Cover Story  Title : They Fought the Battle to the End [他们打满全场] Date Published : April 10, 2020 Date Censored : April 11 or 12, 2020 Publisher : 财新周刊 Original URL : http://weekly.caixin.com/2020-04-10/101540932.html Archived URL :  https://web.archive.org/web/20200411204707/http://weekly.caixin.com/2020-04-10/101540932.html Cover : http://weekly.caixin.com/2020/cw900/   Evidence Of Censorship : The screenshots on the left and right below show that for the issues immediately preceding and following the April 13 issue, Caixin featured links to its cover story (outlined in blue). The screenshot in the middle shows that for the April 13 issue, Caixin does not provide any link to it

COVID-19 Series: People Silenced and Punished by the Chinese Government

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1. Individuals Detained for Sharing Information Online About the  COVID-19 Outbreak  Throughout January 2020 China's government continued to punish people for sharing information online about COVID-19. Here are some examples: Police Report   Recently, during the nationwide fight against the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, Wang Doe, Liu Doe, and Wang Doe #3 fabricated and spread rumors on the Internet and were subjected to administrative detention by the police. On January 23, Wang Doe (female, 35 years old, from Shapingba District) spread rumors in a friends  circle that "Chongqing Shapingba, Jiangbei District, and Yubei District has imposed controls." On the same day, Liu Doe (male, 26 years old, from Tongliang District) spread a rumor that "Panxi and Shimahe areas in Jiangbei have been closed off by the police" in a WeChat group. An investigation found that Wang Doe and Liu Doe fabricated and spread rumors based on hearsay in order to attrac