Saturday, June 18, 2016

Baidu and Sina Weibo Censor Search Results About Hong Kong Bookseller Lam Wing-kee

For additional background, see also: Baidu Begins Censoring "Gui Minhai" - Hong Kong Bookseller Detained in China 

Shortly after 3:00 am on June 17, 2016, the state sponsored Global Times published an editorial entitled "Causeway Bay Bookstore Boss' Retraction' Has Little Factual Content" (铜锣湾店长“翻供”的实质内容不多). Some excerpts:
Lin Rongji (Lam Wing-kee), one of the "disappeared" booksellers of Causeway Bay, held a press conference on the 16th after having returned to Hong Kong. He adopted a posture of "retracting his confession" and created a lot of waves in Hong Kong public opinion.

Lin Rongji related details of how he was detained last year on October 24 at Luowu, Shenzhen, and then transferred by train to a "holding place" in Ningbo. He asserted that Causeway Bay bookshop owner Li Bo (Lee Po ) had been subjected to a "cross-border rendition" and abducted from Hong Kong by mainland Chinese law enforcement officials. This differs from the account provided by Li Bo.

He also said that  his own "televised confession" was "scripted," and he had been forced to cooperate.

Lin said "Mainland China's central government is forcing the people of Hong Kong down a path with no escape," and "The people of Hong Kong must say 'no' to coercion." These two statements were widely quoted, and were thick with emotion.

香港铜锣湾书店“失踪”的店长林荣基本周返回香港后,于16日召开记者会,做出了一个有似“翻供”的姿态,在香港舆论中激起轩然大波。
  
林荣基讲述了他去年10月24日经罗湖回深圳后被拘留,后坐火车转到宁波“监视居住”的细节。他断言铜锣湾书店李波是被内地执法人员“跨境执法”从香港捉拿带走的,这与李波本人的说法不同。他还说自己“电视认罪”时“有导演有台词”,自己被迫配合。
  
林说“中央政府逼到香港人无路可退”,又说“港人向强权说不”,这两句话被广泛引用,情绪味很浓。
By noon on June 17 the editorial had been removed.
Screenshot showing the Global Times
editorial before it was deleted.
Original URL: opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2016-06/9050710.html

Later that evening the Global Times published another article about Lam, this time entitled “Shareholder Lee Bo Refutes What Causeway Bay Bookstore Boss Said in Press Conference” (股东李波反驳铜锣湾书店店长记者会说法).

These screenshots show that at the same time Sina Weibo stopped including users posts in search results for Lam’s name, instead only displaying the Global Times’ article refuting his claims.

That article was deleted the following day.

Screenshot showing the Global Times
article before it was deleted.
Original URL: http://china.huanqiu.com/article/2016-06/9054623.html

The screenshots below show that on June 17, Baidu began censoring web search results for "Lam Wing-kee" (林荣基). Although Baidu has stopped notifying users of its censorship, one can see that, prior to 2:30 pm on the 17th, a search for "Lam Wing-kee" returned tens of thousands of results, including results from news websites located outside of mainland China such as:
  • Phoenix (HK)
  • Tsingtao Daily (HK)
  • Takungpao (HK)
  • Tsingtao News Network (HK)
By 11:00 pm the same day, Baidu claimed it could find only 18 results, and they were all from websites operated by agencies of China's central government:
  • Youth.cn (Communist Youth League)
  • Xinhua (China’s Official News Agency)
  • People’s Daily (Official Party Mouthpiece)
  • China News Agency (China’s 2nd Largest State-Owned News Agency)
  • China Daily (China’s Official English Language Newspaper)
  • China.com.cn (Operated by China’s State Council Information Office)
  • Taiwan.cn (Operated by the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office)


These screenshots show that at the same time Baidu began censoring web search results, it also began claiming it could no longer find any Weibo related search results.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

China's Search Engines (Except One) Stop Notifying Users of Political Censorship

The following screenshots show that, at some time between mid-March and the end of May, 2016, China's three major search engines - Baidu, Sogou, and Qihoo - stopped displaying a censorship notice for the phrase "China's Last Leader" (中国最后领导人). Instead, Baidu and Qihoo tell users they are unable to find any search results, and Sogou returns a blank page.

It is unclear exactly when these search engines stopped displaying their censorship notices, but these screenshots show that, in the case of Baidu, it happened in mid-May.

This screenshot was taken in July 2009, and shows that Baidu had been placing a censorship notice at the top of certain search results for at least 7 years.


These screenshots show that, while Baidu has not always censored terms like "Tiananmen Massacre," it continued to do so in June 2016, and the only thing that has changed is that it is no longer informing users when it does.

This screenshot was taken on June 9, 2016, and shows that the PRC-based version of Microsoft's Bing search engine was still notifying users when it censored search results pursuant to a government order.



Sunday, June 5, 2016

Baidu Censors Information About June 4, 1989 In its Forum, Knowledge, and Encyclopedia Services

This screenshot was taken on June 4, 2016, and shows Baidu banned users from establishing a forum about “Tiananmen” (天安门) on its PostBar (贴吧) product.
These screenshots show that on June 4, 2016, Baidu deleted two questions about “What Day is June 4?” from its “Knowledge” (Zhidao 知道) product.


 Here are the deleted questions and answers:
What day is June 4?

Its a day that’s commemorates a movement many years ago. Nowadays there’s not many people who still remember the people or events of that year.

六月四日是什么日子

是多年前一个运动的纪念日。现在已经没有多少人还记得当年的那些人、那些事了。

What day is June 4?

Ah, a most ordinary day.
There’s no holiday or anything.
Perhaps its a day that certain people commemorate.

六月四日是什么日子

很平常的日子啊
又没什么节日
可能是某某人的纪念日吧
Original URLs:
Here are what Baidu’s Encyclopedia (Baike 百科) article for "1989" says were the only major events on June 4:
June 4 -- Poland holds its first democratic elections, Lech Walesa of the Solidarity Party is elected Premier.
June 4 -- Iranian President Ayatollah Khomeini is chosen as Iran's supreme leader.
6月4日——波兰举行首次议会民主选举,团结工会候选人瓦文萨当选总理。
6月4日——伊朗总统哈梅内伊获推选为伊朗最高领袖。

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Here's What Sina Weibo Was Censoring on June 4, 2016

Here are a few of the terms that Sina Weibo was censoring on June 4, 2016:
  • Tiananmen
  • June 4
  • Tiananmen 1989 (天安门 1989)
  • Victoria Park (维园)


Comparing Baidu and Bing on June 4, 2016

The following screenshots were taken on June 4, 2017. The Bing screenshots of from Bing's global search engine, not its PRC based cn.bing.com version.

A web search for "Tiananmen Square Massacre" in English.


An image search for "Tiananmen Square Massacre" in English.

An image search for "Wang Weilin Tank" (王维林 坦克).

A web search for "Tiananmen Mothers" (天安门 母亲).



Searching for Information about June 4, 1989 on Sogou's New English Search Engine

On May 19, 2016, the state sponsored Global Times published an article entitled “Sogou, Microsoft Service.” Some excerpts:
Sogou Inc, a search engine arm under Internet company Sohu.com Inc, teamed up with Microsoft on Thursday by launching an English language search service to further its presence in the country's online search market.

With the aid of the global search technology provided by Microsoft's engine Bing, Sogou said in a statement that it can offer the latest English-language news, information and academic data to users. 
The following screenshots for "Tiananmen," "Massacre," and "June 4, 1989" were taken on June 4, 2016. In each case Sogou returned no results, only a notice saying "Apologies, we cannot find the English search results you are looking for." (抱歉,没有找到你要的英文结果).




Baidu Begins Censoring "Tiananmen 27th Anniversary"

These screenshots show that on June 2, 2016, Baidu began censoring search results for “Tiananmen 27th Anniversary” (天安门 27周年).


These screenshots show that on June 2, 2016, all results from Sina's blogging service disappeared from Baidu's search results for “Tiananmen 27th Anniversary.”
Baidu has imposed similar censorship in past years:

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...