|
 The usual taboo subjects of calls for protests or collective action,
the violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests around Tiananmen
Square in June 1989, corruption and senior politicians were
frequently censored, said the report by the University of Toronto's
Citizen Lab.
But the key difference between WeChat, equivalent to China's
Facebook Inc, and other social media, such as Chinese microblogging
service Weibo Corp, was that a high proportion of censored posts
related to rumors and misinformation, some of which were "more
typical of sensationalism or tabloid gossip," Citizen Lab said.
Since Xi Jinping became president in early 2013, he has presided
over an increasingly harsh crackdown on China's Internet, a sphere
which the Communist Party has viewed with increasing importance and
acknowledged it needs to control, academics and researchers say.
Tencent did not respond to requests for comment.
China's internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China,
was not available for immediate comment outside of normal business
hours, but has said previously it will punish those who break
regulations concerning online activities.
At the heart of the disparity between WeChat and other online media
could be China's sweeping online "anti-rumour campaign", which has
clamped down on those spreading misinformation since it began in
2013, according to Citizen Lab.
Alternatively, censors may view WeChat as a place where more than
messages related to public demonstrations should be culled, unlike
other social media, the study said.
This runs counter to previous studies that have found the weight of
online censorship tends to be on posts that could have a
destabilising effect on society, most prominently by encouraging
demonstrations or protests, whether or not they are in favour of or
relate to the government.
[to top of second column] |
Unlike with Weibo and other social media where posts are public,
WeChat users must follow specific accounts to receive their
messages.
Citizen Lab analysed more than 36,000 unique posts from more than
10,000 WeChat "official" or "public" accounts, which can send out
single messages to a much larger number of followers than individual
users and are commonly used by media organisations, brands and other
companies.
The severity of China's Internet censorship, and the struggle of
maintaining such a crackdown, were demonstrated in recent days when
authorities detained several people in relation to a sex tape
supposedly filmed in a Beijing outlet of clothing retailer Uniqlo,
which went viral on social media despite censors' best efforts.
(Reporting by Paul Carsten)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
