China’s Great Firewall threatens to erase memories of Tiananmen

VPN crackdown and sophisticated censorship make it harder to access outside information

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Activists gathered at Tiananmen Square on May 14th, 1989, after an overnight hunger strike. The seven-week protests ended in a military crackdown on June 4th. (Picture: Catherine Henriette/AFP)

Published: 10:00pm, 3 Jun 2019Updated: 9:05am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Thirty years ago China ordered a brutal military crackdown on pro-democracy activists gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, leaving hundreds dead. The dramatic events that took place on June 4th, 1989, became one of the most defining moments in modern Chinese history. Yet today, the country’s Great Firewall is threatening to wipe out memories of the massacre.

For China’s tech-savvy 20-somethings, the outside internet -- untethered by the grips of government censors -- remains a primary source of sensitive information. People trying to escape the confines of China’s internet aren’t censors' only concern, though. They also worry that mentions of June 4th could slip through the country’s digital barrier.

Just one day ahead of the Tiananmen anniversary, throngs of overseas users complained on Weibo that they had trouble publishing posts. A pop-up message told them “server data synchronization might be delayed,” prompting some to turn to special apps that help them find their way back inside the Great Firewall. The irony of that wasn’t missed by users.

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“I’m under special care by Weibo again,” one user quipped. “I have waited for more than an hour [for my post to go through] but no update. I have to go back to the other side [of the wall] to send a Weibo post. 😊”

In China, government censors aren’t directly involved in monitoring individual social media posts. Instead, they rely on companies such as Weibo to do the job, and those who fail to comply face punishment. In April, Weibo banned all posts with the word “Leica” after a promotional video featuring the camera brand appeared, depicting a Western journalist documenting the Tiananmen crackdown. Keywords relating to the protests have long been prohibited.

Some Chinese netizens are choosing to hunker down to avoid attracting attention as the censors kick into high gear.

Weiboscope, a monitoring site run by the University of Hong Kong's journalism school, recorded a social media post that said, “Being obedient, shutting up for a few days.”