Chinese netizens take advantage of rare opportunity to vent anger on social media amid coronavirus outbreak
- Beijing’s Great Firewall is used to regulating the internet domestically, blocking access to selected foreign websites
Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging site, and Tencent Holdings’ ubiquitous WeChat all-purpose app, have emerged as channels for criticism directed at the government of Hubei, the province in central China at the epicentre of the outbreak, with 1,771 new confirmed cases of the virus reported nationwide on Tuesday.
“My question every day is: Has the mayor of Wuhan been taken down yet? Has the governor of Hubei province been taken down?” a user posted on Weibo on the eve of the Lunar New Year holiday. As of publication time, the comment had not been taken down.
“When SARS broke out in 2003, there were no social media platforms like Weibo or WeChat so we couldn’t hear these criticisms even if people [in 2003] wanted to express them,” said Dingding Zhang, an internet industry commentator and former head of Beijing-based research firm Sootoo Institute. “This also shows that mass internet users are playing the role of supervising [the government in its handling of the outbreak], not just media.”
Criticism of the government is rare in China, where the ruling Communist Party implements strict media censorship policies. Yet in the current crisis, Chinese internet users have been able to openly criticise the local government.
A photo showing Hubei government leaders attending a press conference on Sunday drew ire after some noticed that the city mayor did not have his mask on properly. The picture and critical comments subsequently went viral on Weibo and WeChat Moments.