China tightens censorship on coronavirus as authorities boost propaganda

For a while, China's tightly controlled social media platforms hosted surprisingly frank discussion about the coronavirus outbreak. The country has also seen some hard-hitting journalism from commercial media asking tough questions that challenge official narratives. But now that’s changing.  

On February 5, many internet users posting on Weibo said their WeChat accounts were suspended for “spreading malicious rumors.” Complaints about the trend were posted on Weibo under the hashtag “WeChat bans accounts,” with many people saying they weren’t given a specific reason for why their accounts were suspended. These suspensions reportedly could be as short as 24 hours or a permanent ban, which means users could lose all of their WeChat contacts. 

The next day, conversations about the death of 34-year-old doctor Li Wenliang also started disappearing. The doctor became known as one of the first to share information about the coronavirus before being reprimanded by the Wuhan police for it. Li’s death from the virus triggered nationwide grief and anger, leading to trending Weibo hashtags including “The Wuhan government owes Li Wenliang an apology” and “I want freedom of speech.” The pages for the hashtags were quickly removed.

Interest-based social site Douban also suspended a function called Diary, which lets users post long articles. Many users have been using Douban Diary to describe situations in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak that is now under lockdown.