Latest crackdown on Chinese social media sees dozens of high-profile Weibo accounts silenced
- Microblogging platform says accounts have been suspended or closed for publishing ‘politically harmful’ material
- Victims of purge include outspoken liberal intellectual Yu Jianrong even though he says he stopped discussing politics two years ago
One of China’s leading social media platforms announced on Monday that it had silenced a number of leading opinion formers, including Yu Jianrong, a popular outspoken liberal intellectual with more than seven million followers.
Sina, the owner of the Twitter-style microblog Weibo, announced officials on Monday that “according to the relevant laws and regulations”, it had suspended or shut down more than 50 accounts which published “politically harmful information”.
Alibaba, the owner of the South China Morning Post, is a major shareholder in Sina.
The purge comes amid a growing crackdown on social media as the government pushes tech companies to do more to censor content.
Yu, a researcher at the rural development institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was told that his Weibo account would be suspended for 90 days.
“I feel odd. I don’t know which of my comments violated the country and Sina’s regulations,” Yu told the Post. He said he had not posted any political content on his account for two years.