China’s WeChat censored thousands of keywords tied to the coronavirus pandemic, Citizen Lab study says
- Researchers from the University of Toronto catalogued censored keywords from January to May
- Banned content included anything related to missing tycoon Ren Zhiqiang and unfounded allegations against a Wuhan laboratory
When the novel coronavirus first struck China, government efforts to control online discussions were mostly focused on domestic politics. But as the pandemic spread across the globe, US-related topics have borne the brunt of WeChat’s censorship, a new study found.
Between January and May, researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab found that the Chinese app blocked more than 2,000 keywords related to Covid-19.
Tencent, the owner of WeChat, did not respond to a request for comment.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, early warnings about the virus were censored, as were domestic criticisms of China’s handling of the outbreak, said the report.
Starting in March, as the pandemic went global, more of the censored terms were found to focus on international criticism of China. Those keyword combinations included mentions of the World Health Organisation and Red Cross.
The term “mask diplomacy” also hit a nerve.