#NetizensVoice
National Flag Guard – Doctor LI Wenliang was died due to the systematic speech controls, which he believed in and supported
Editor’s Note: The Chinese government does everything she can in order to take out any forms of freedom of speech in China. This deviates far away from the well-accepted value the general population of the world. Under such system, Li became another one of those who persecutes others. Many of the population had been through this process continuously without realising it. After Li’s death, number of individuals in China criticised the government and asked for the redressing of the apprehension of the eight whistleblowers. Most importantly, they gained awareness and began to demand for Freedom of Speech.
(8 Feb) Doctor LI Wenliang, formerly a China Flag Guard who had been in constant support of the silencing of Hong Kong, was silenced by the Chinese totalitarian government following his act of “spreading rumours” by disclosing the Coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. Perhaps people have attempted at shaping him into a hero of some form and acted in his defense, yet it is also important to acknowledge his past behaviours and to keep in mind that Death does not eliminate any of these factors.
He was just a pawn under the Chinese Communist Party, ready to be persecuted, acting as both the offender and the victim.
What we should grieve over is people being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party, instead of grieving over the death of one who was deemed as a ‘hero’. What we should grieve over is under the Communist Party’s System, people criticize, snitch and report each other against any voices upsetting and embarrassing them.
P.S. Doctor LI Wenliang, one of the eight whistleblowers (the Communist Party defines them as Rumourmongers) revealed the Coronavirus outbreak to his friends, was later arrested and warned by the Police.
Source: Facebook
https://bit.ly/37av4Un
Further reading:
New Coronavirus Killed First “whistle-blower” about Wuhan Pneumonia
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/16796
Li’s Death Stirs Up Intense Discussions, Questing for Freedom of Speech
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/16808
Whistleblower's death suddenly withdrawn in China's Internet
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/16834
#FreeSpeech #Whistleblowers #LiWenliang
National Flag Guard – Doctor LI Wenliang was died due to the systematic speech controls, which he believed in and supported
Editor’s Note: The Chinese government does everything she can in order to take out any forms of freedom of speech in China. This deviates far away from the well-accepted value the general population of the world. Under such system, Li became another one of those who persecutes others. Many of the population had been through this process continuously without realising it. After Li’s death, number of individuals in China criticised the government and asked for the redressing of the apprehension of the eight whistleblowers. Most importantly, they gained awareness and began to demand for Freedom of Speech.
(8 Feb) Doctor LI Wenliang, formerly a China Flag Guard who had been in constant support of the silencing of Hong Kong, was silenced by the Chinese totalitarian government following his act of “spreading rumours” by disclosing the Coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. Perhaps people have attempted at shaping him into a hero of some form and acted in his defense, yet it is also important to acknowledge his past behaviours and to keep in mind that Death does not eliminate any of these factors.
He was just a pawn under the Chinese Communist Party, ready to be persecuted, acting as both the offender and the victim.
What we should grieve over is people being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party, instead of grieving over the death of one who was deemed as a ‘hero’. What we should grieve over is under the Communist Party’s System, people criticize, snitch and report each other against any voices upsetting and embarrassing them.
P.S. Doctor LI Wenliang, one of the eight whistleblowers (the Communist Party defines them as Rumourmongers) revealed the Coronavirus outbreak to his friends, was later arrested and warned by the Police.
Source: Facebook
https://bit.ly/37av4Un
Further reading:
New Coronavirus Killed First “whistle-blower” about Wuhan Pneumonia
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/16796
Li’s Death Stirs Up Intense Discussions, Questing for Freedom of Speech
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/16808
Whistleblower's death suddenly withdrawn in China's Internet
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/16834
#FreeSpeech #Whistleblowers #LiWenliang
Telegram
📡Guardians of Hong Kong
#WuhanPneumonia #Death
New Coronavirus Killed 34-year-old Doctor, First “whistle-blower” about Wuhan Pneumonia in China
The deadly new Coronavirus claimed another life in Wuhan, China and the latest victim is Dr. Li Wen-liang who passed away in the evening…
New Coronavirus Killed 34-year-old Doctor, First “whistle-blower” about Wuhan Pneumonia in China
The deadly new Coronavirus claimed another life in Wuhan, China and the latest victim is Dr. Li Wen-liang who passed away in the evening…
#OpinionArticle
A Correct Understanding of the CCP Regime - Dr Li Wenliang Is Not a Whistleblower
Editor's note: Bo Yang's Popeye incident refers to a cartoon that Bo Yang translated where Popeye runs for president on an island. He was accused of undermining the KMT and was sentenced to 10 years.
Dr Li Wenliang is not a whistleblower.
Li shared an odd infection case (which he believed was SARS) with his colleagues in a private WeChat group to remind them to be vigilant of a possible outbreak. Doctors in Taiwan and China share this kind of information every day and nobody considers it to be whistleblowing.
Unfortunately, some in the group were politically sensitive and reported him to the authorities.
He was clearly a victim of #CCP’s strategy to maintain stability. His conduct was utterly irrelevant to political concerns. His case was not even comparable to Liu Xiaobo or Bo Yang's Popeye the Sailor Man incident in Taiwan.
Why does the CCP dub Dr Li Wenliang a whistleblower?
1) The Central Government shirked responsibility, leaving the blame for local and regional government officials.
For those with basic knowledge of the Chinese political system, it is not difficult to understand that the top-down pressure from Beijing to maintain stability is the root cause of concealing the #coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan City and then Hubei Province. If everyone shifts their focus to the reaction & grievances of Wuhan's authority, they will eventually forget political pressure from Central Government.
2) The Central Government used Dr Li to distract citizens from being aware of its control over their freedoms and lives.
The CCP is trying to sell the idea to the public that stringent autocratic rule is necessary to minimize variation in law enforcement among cities due to China's large size and population. As a result, the Chinese people will not consider the possibility of a different system of governance nor challenge the one-party rule by CCP.
Source: Wind Hong’s Facebook
https://bit.ly/2OKlRvH
#Whistleblower #LiWenliang #CCP
A Correct Understanding of the CCP Regime - Dr Li Wenliang Is Not a Whistleblower
Editor's note: Bo Yang's Popeye incident refers to a cartoon that Bo Yang translated where Popeye runs for president on an island. He was accused of undermining the KMT and was sentenced to 10 years.
Dr Li Wenliang is not a whistleblower.
Li shared an odd infection case (which he believed was SARS) with his colleagues in a private WeChat group to remind them to be vigilant of a possible outbreak. Doctors in Taiwan and China share this kind of information every day and nobody considers it to be whistleblowing.
Unfortunately, some in the group were politically sensitive and reported him to the authorities.
He was clearly a victim of #CCP’s strategy to maintain stability. His conduct was utterly irrelevant to political concerns. His case was not even comparable to Liu Xiaobo or Bo Yang's Popeye the Sailor Man incident in Taiwan.
Why does the CCP dub Dr Li Wenliang a whistleblower?
1) The Central Government shirked responsibility, leaving the blame for local and regional government officials.
For those with basic knowledge of the Chinese political system, it is not difficult to understand that the top-down pressure from Beijing to maintain stability is the root cause of concealing the #coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan City and then Hubei Province. If everyone shifts their focus to the reaction & grievances of Wuhan's authority, they will eventually forget political pressure from Central Government.
2) The Central Government used Dr Li to distract citizens from being aware of its control over their freedoms and lives.
The CCP is trying to sell the idea to the public that stringent autocratic rule is necessary to minimize variation in law enforcement among cities due to China's large size and population. As a result, the Chinese people will not consider the possibility of a different system of governance nor challenge the one-party rule by CCP.
Source: Wind Hong’s Facebook
https://bit.ly/2OKlRvH
#Whistleblower #LiWenliang #CCP
Transcript: NPR's Interview With Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai About The Coronavirus
//we always have as one of our basic principles, openness and transparency
//we are providing, you see all the figures, the numbers on daily basis just to make people reassured that we are doing our most to confront it. And this will certainly help us to dispel any fake news, rumors or what people call pseudoscience.
//He was not detained. I think somebody talked to him, but he wasn't, he was not detained. Otherwise, he could not be working in the hospital.
//Actually, I think Dr. Li is also part of the Chinese system... Maybe people are not aware, he was a member of the Communist Party.
//We believe in openness, but openness does not mean that you could say anything under any circumstances. The government has to respond in a responsible way. Whatever action the government is taking, whatever announcement it is making, alert it is issuing, you have to base yourself on sufficient evidence and science.
//Sometimes government at a particular level makes some mistakes. This is possible. This is, I think it is all natural all over the world. But you cannot say the whole government in China is making a mistake. This is not true.
Full Article: NPR Org (14-Feb)
https://n.pr/2vzZKRN
#LiWenliang #FreeSpeech
//we always have as one of our basic principles, openness and transparency
//we are providing, you see all the figures, the numbers on daily basis just to make people reassured that we are doing our most to confront it. And this will certainly help us to dispel any fake news, rumors or what people call pseudoscience.
//He was not detained. I think somebody talked to him, but he wasn't, he was not detained. Otherwise, he could not be working in the hospital.
//Actually, I think Dr. Li is also part of the Chinese system... Maybe people are not aware, he was a member of the Communist Party.
//We believe in openness, but openness does not mean that you could say anything under any circumstances. The government has to respond in a responsible way. Whatever action the government is taking, whatever announcement it is making, alert it is issuing, you have to base yourself on sufficient evidence and science.
//Sometimes government at a particular level makes some mistakes. This is possible. This is, I think it is all natural all over the world. But you cannot say the whole government in China is making a mistake. This is not true.
Full Article: NPR Org (14-Feb)
https://n.pr/2vzZKRN
#LiWenliang #FreeSpeech
Why are you all so strict and harsh with the people of Hong Kong but so lenient to the people of China ?
Dr. Li Wen-liang, a Chinese doctor who had been accused of spreading rumours about the outbreak of the new coronavirus in China, ultimately died from contracting the virus himself. Many kind-hearted people from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan showed their feelings of sympathy towards Li’s death. The story behind Li’s death included plots and characters one would find in a Shakespearean tragedy: good people and good deeds; a tragic hero of conscience; a country ruled by the “dark” regime of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP); and the treacherous, rapidly-changing fate of a human being.
Full article:
https://telegra.ph/Why-are-you-all-so-strict-and-harsh-with-the-people-of-Hong-Kong-but-so-lenient-to-the-people-of-China-02-17
#LiWenliang #CCP
Dr. Li Wen-liang, a Chinese doctor who had been accused of spreading rumours about the outbreak of the new coronavirus in China, ultimately died from contracting the virus himself. Many kind-hearted people from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan showed their feelings of sympathy towards Li’s death. The story behind Li’s death included plots and characters one would find in a Shakespearean tragedy: good people and good deeds; a tragic hero of conscience; a country ruled by the “dark” regime of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP); and the treacherous, rapidly-changing fate of a human being.
Full article:
https://telegra.ph/Why-are-you-all-so-strict-and-harsh-with-the-people-of-Hong-Kong-but-so-lenient-to-the-people-of-China-02-17
#LiWenliang #CCP
Telegraph
Why are you all so strict and harsh with the people of Hong Kong but so lenient to the people of China ?
Dr. Li Wen-liang, a Chinese doctor who had been accused of spreading rumours about the outbreak of the new coronavirus in China, ultimately died from contracting the virus himself. Many kind-hearted people from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan showed…
#Newspaper
Frontline Wuhan doctor, Ai Fen, silenced by CCP 1/2
In the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, Ai Fen, head of emergency care at the Wuhan Central Hospital was the first person to report the truth. At the time, she was reprimanded for “violating principles and not having organizational discipline by spreading rumours”. Thinking back she wondered, “What did I do wrong?” Ai regretted that she was not more outspoken at the early stages of the outbreak. She remained silent for three weeks after learning about this new mysterious illness, but she wished she had continued to raise the alarm.
Working at the frontline, Ai said she witnessed people dying in the vehicles that transported them to the hospital. Many people died in the emergency room without having been diagnosed and they were not included in the official death count. “I could not do anything apart from seeing more and more patients while the contagion radius expanded from Huanan seafood market to nearby areas. Many cases were clustered household infections,” Ai said.
Ai was the one who posted a report on an infected patient back in December in a doctors’ chat group. This was the post that made Dr. Li Wenliang raise the alarm on the outbreak in Wuhan. He was among eight whistleblowers who were targeted by state police for rumourmongering. She realized the gravity of the situation back then but could not warn others publicly about the virus. As the head of the emergency department, the best she could do was to ask everyone in the emergency ward to protect themselves by wearing masks, caps and sanitize their hands as much as possible.
One doctor suggested they should wear protective gowns. However, during a meeting with hospital administration they were told that doing so would cause too much panic. In the end, she could only ask emergency staff members to wear their protective gowns under their white lab coats. “This did not meet the safety standards, it was so ridiculous,” she said.
On 11 January, the first nurse at Wuhan Central Hospital succumbed to the virus. Ai immediately called for an emergency meeting with hospital officials. During the meeting, Ai was told to remove the words “viral pneumonia” from the report title. Several days later, an associate chief of staff said, “Let’s have some common medical sense, experienced doctors should not allow themselves to scare others to death.” She recalled the tremendous pressure, stress and regret she felt: “I kept thinking if the hospital leadership did not condemn me so harshly but would instead talk about the issue calmly under the presence of other respiratory experts at the early stage, maybe the whole situation would be a lot better now.”
Sources: Stand News, HKCNews, The Guardian
https://bit.ly/2R3KWCM
https://bit.ly/2Ux6hH0
https://bit.ly/2US0wmd
https://bit.ly/2xBGLr3
#AiFen #Whistleblower #Censorship #FreedomOfSpeech #Wuhan #Coronavirus #LiWenLiang
Frontline Wuhan doctor, Ai Fen, silenced by CCP 1/2
In the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, Ai Fen, head of emergency care at the Wuhan Central Hospital was the first person to report the truth. At the time, she was reprimanded for “violating principles and not having organizational discipline by spreading rumours”. Thinking back she wondered, “What did I do wrong?” Ai regretted that she was not more outspoken at the early stages of the outbreak. She remained silent for three weeks after learning about this new mysterious illness, but she wished she had continued to raise the alarm.
Working at the frontline, Ai said she witnessed people dying in the vehicles that transported them to the hospital. Many people died in the emergency room without having been diagnosed and they were not included in the official death count. “I could not do anything apart from seeing more and more patients while the contagion radius expanded from Huanan seafood market to nearby areas. Many cases were clustered household infections,” Ai said.
Ai was the one who posted a report on an infected patient back in December in a doctors’ chat group. This was the post that made Dr. Li Wenliang raise the alarm on the outbreak in Wuhan. He was among eight whistleblowers who were targeted by state police for rumourmongering. She realized the gravity of the situation back then but could not warn others publicly about the virus. As the head of the emergency department, the best she could do was to ask everyone in the emergency ward to protect themselves by wearing masks, caps and sanitize their hands as much as possible.
One doctor suggested they should wear protective gowns. However, during a meeting with hospital administration they were told that doing so would cause too much panic. In the end, she could only ask emergency staff members to wear their protective gowns under their white lab coats. “This did not meet the safety standards, it was so ridiculous,” she said.
On 11 January, the first nurse at Wuhan Central Hospital succumbed to the virus. Ai immediately called for an emergency meeting with hospital officials. During the meeting, Ai was told to remove the words “viral pneumonia” from the report title. Several days later, an associate chief of staff said, “Let’s have some common medical sense, experienced doctors should not allow themselves to scare others to death.” She recalled the tremendous pressure, stress and regret she felt: “I kept thinking if the hospital leadership did not condemn me so harshly but would instead talk about the issue calmly under the presence of other respiratory experts at the early stage, maybe the whole situation would be a lot better now.”
Sources: Stand News, HKCNews, The Guardian
https://bit.ly/2R3KWCM
https://bit.ly/2Ux6hH0
https://bit.ly/2US0wmd
https://bit.ly/2xBGLr3
#AiFen #Whistleblower #Censorship #FreedomOfSpeech #Wuhan #Coronavirus #LiWenLiang
立場新聞 Stand News
《立場新聞》編採獨立自主，不受任何贊助人、財團、權力機構及黨派左右。我們以非牟利原則營運，所有經營盈餘和贊助，只會用於傳媒事業。
#Newspaper
Official source retracts admonition, restates Dr. Li Wenliang spreading non factual information
(20 Mar) One of the eight whistleblowers, Dr. Li Wenliang, who passed away in early February due to the Coronavirus, was accused of spreading rumors by the Chinese government. This created an uproar in the society.
After more than a month of investigation, Committee of Inspection for State Affairs confirmed that Dr. Li has admitted the act of spreading unverified information in WeChat group about the new SARS virus in January, under the monition of the police. However, the law enforcement process of the police has not followed the proper procedure. It was inappropriate to issue a letter of admonition and thus the letter should be retracted. The police department retracted the letter and apologized to the families of Dr. Li publicly.
The spokesperson of the Committee of Inspection for State Affairs mentioned that even though Dr. Li did not internationally create public disorder, but he had forwarded non factual information before the source of virus was verified. Given that Dr. Li was a member of Communist Party and not an anti-government member, there were opposing forces that labelled Dr. Li as a ‘hero’ and an ‘awakener’, with the purpose of discrediting the communist party and the government. Such act to provoke social unrest is destined not to succeed.
Source: am730
https://bit.ly/2R2g8T6
#LiWenLiang #CCP #Coronavirus #ChinesePropaganda
Official source retracts admonition, restates Dr. Li Wenliang spreading non factual information
(20 Mar) One of the eight whistleblowers, Dr. Li Wenliang, who passed away in early February due to the Coronavirus, was accused of spreading rumors by the Chinese government. This created an uproar in the society.
After more than a month of investigation, Committee of Inspection for State Affairs confirmed that Dr. Li has admitted the act of spreading unverified information in WeChat group about the new SARS virus in January, under the monition of the police. However, the law enforcement process of the police has not followed the proper procedure. It was inappropriate to issue a letter of admonition and thus the letter should be retracted. The police department retracted the letter and apologized to the families of Dr. Li publicly.
The spokesperson of the Committee of Inspection for State Affairs mentioned that even though Dr. Li did not internationally create public disorder, but he had forwarded non factual information before the source of virus was verified. Given that Dr. Li was a member of Communist Party and not an anti-government member, there were opposing forces that labelled Dr. Li as a ‘hero’ and an ‘awakener’, with the purpose of discrediting the communist party and the government. Such act to provoke social unrest is destined not to succeed.
Source: am730
https://bit.ly/2R2g8T6
#LiWenLiang #CCP #Coronavirus #ChinesePropaganda
am730
官方收回訓誡 重申李文亮發不實訊息
最早揭發內地新冠肺炎疫情8名「吹哨人」之一、2月初染疫病逝的武漢醫生李文亮，生前被官方指「散布謠言」，惹社會大為憤慨，國家監察委員會調查組調查逾月後昨公布結果，強調李文亮1月面對警方訓誡時承認未經核實就在微信群組發布「有沙士」的消息，但警方執法程序亦不規範，出具訓誡書屬不當，應予撤銷。武漢市公安局照做，並向李文亮家屬公開道歉。
Biased belief in CCP hurts the world: WHO is the accomplice 4/7
The screenshot on the left is the number that Tencent suddenly flashed (much higher than the official number). The screenshot on the right was the number that was corrected on the next day (that is, back to the official number). Although Tencent issued a formal statement that someone was tampering with its webpage, the same phenomenon occurred three times.
WHO has an office in China. Even though it cannot get the accurate actual death figures from CCP, it is impossible that they are not aware of the incident of whistle blower Li Wen-liang (note: one of the eight whistle blowing doctors) regarding CCP’s covering up on the epidemics. WHO has a direct part in the underestimation of the epidemic’s severity when they accept CCP’s official data without reservation.
Source: HKCNews
#CCP #Pandemic #Tencent #Whistleblower #LiWenLiang
⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ Continue
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/19543
The screenshot on the left is the number that Tencent suddenly flashed (much higher than the official number). The screenshot on the right was the number that was corrected on the next day (that is, back to the official number). Although Tencent issued a formal statement that someone was tampering with its webpage, the same phenomenon occurred three times.
WHO has an office in China. Even though it cannot get the accurate actual death figures from CCP, it is impossible that they are not aware of the incident of whistle blower Li Wen-liang (note: one of the eight whistle blowing doctors) regarding CCP’s covering up on the epidemics. WHO has a direct part in the underestimation of the epidemic’s severity when they accept CCP’s official data without reservation.
Source: HKCNews
#CCP #Pandemic #Tencent #Whistleblower #LiWenLiang
⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ Continue
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/19543
#Newspaper
China's state council's white paper propagandises anti-epidemic "achievements" without acknowledging whistleblower Dr Li Wenliang
(7 Jun)Today, China's State Council Information Office released a white paper entitled "Fighting COVID-19: China in Action", which declared China a "victim nation" of COVID-19 that deserved fair treatment and was "not to be blamed". It expressed firm opposition against the stigmatization and politicization of the pandemic. The white paper claimed that when the pandemic began, China "provided clear and explicit information to the international community". However, it blatantly omitted the fact that Chinese provincial officials prevented hospitals from reporting cases of the virus. It also neglected to mention ophthalmologist Dr Li Wenliang being exposed to the epidemic and reprimanded by Wuhan authorities. This is an obvious cover-up of the situation's reality.
The white paper consists of 35,000 words and is divided into four sections [with the following titles]: "China's Fight against the Epidemic: A Test of Fire", "Well-Coordinated Prevention, Control and Treatment", "Assembling a Powerful Force to Beat the Virus" and "Building a Global Community of Health for All."
//Xu Lin, deputy minister of the Central Propaganda Department, responded to external criticism during the press conference for the [white paper's] announcement. He said that the Chinese media's reports on the epidemic were impartial and based on facts; accusations of false propaganda were inaccurate and totally ill-founded. Xu criticized the foreign politicians and media that politicised the pandemic and sensationalised theories of its "Chinese origin" and "China's cover-up", among others, without any scientific backing.
Full translation:
https://telegra.ph/Chinas-state-councils-white-paper-propagandises-anti-epidemic-achievements-without-acknowledging-whistleblower-Dr-Li-Wenliang-06-21
Source: Apple Daily
#LiWenliang #WHO #Coronavirus #VirusOrigin #WhitePaper #Epidemic #ChinesePropaganda
China's state council's white paper propagandises anti-epidemic "achievements" without acknowledging whistleblower Dr Li Wenliang
(7 Jun)Today, China's State Council Information Office released a white paper entitled "Fighting COVID-19: China in Action", which declared China a "victim nation" of COVID-19 that deserved fair treatment and was "not to be blamed". It expressed firm opposition against the stigmatization and politicization of the pandemic. The white paper claimed that when the pandemic began, China "provided clear and explicit information to the international community". However, it blatantly omitted the fact that Chinese provincial officials prevented hospitals from reporting cases of the virus. It also neglected to mention ophthalmologist Dr Li Wenliang being exposed to the epidemic and reprimanded by Wuhan authorities. This is an obvious cover-up of the situation's reality.
The white paper consists of 35,000 words and is divided into four sections [with the following titles]: "China's Fight against the Epidemic: A Test of Fire", "Well-Coordinated Prevention, Control and Treatment", "Assembling a Powerful Force to Beat the Virus" and "Building a Global Community of Health for All."
//Xu Lin, deputy minister of the Central Propaganda Department, responded to external criticism during the press conference for the [white paper's] announcement. He said that the Chinese media's reports on the epidemic were impartial and based on facts; accusations of false propaganda were inaccurate and totally ill-founded. Xu criticized the foreign politicians and media that politicised the pandemic and sensationalised theories of its "Chinese origin" and "China's cover-up", among others, without any scientific backing.
Full translation:
https://telegra.ph/Chinas-state-councils-white-paper-propagandises-anti-epidemic-achievements-without-acknowledging-whistleblower-Dr-Li-Wenliang-06-21
Source: Apple Daily
#LiWenliang #WHO #Coronavirus #VirusOrigin #WhitePaper #Epidemic #ChinesePropaganda
Telegraph
China's state council's white paper propagandises anti-epidemic "achievements" without acknowledging whistleblower Dr Li Wenliang
(7 Jun)Today, China's State Council Information Office released a white paper entitled "Fighting COVID-19: China in Action", which declared China a "victim nation" of COVID-19 that deserved fair treatment and was "not to be blamed". It expressed firm opposition…
WeChat Censorship Tightens with Chinese State Media Articles Containing Sensitive Words Blocked Too, Says University of Toronto Study
A report by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab released this week shows that censorship on WeChat has been tightened. The lab tracked changes to WeChat’s list of censored words between this January and May. It was found that over 2,000 words relating to the pandemic have been marked sensitive and blocked. An article by the state media, too, would disappear from the platform if it contains any of those sensitive words, shwoing that the freedom of expression on WeChat is even more limited than that allowed by the state media.
As WeChat censors contents on a remote server, it was not possible for the researchers to understand how the censorship works by inspecting the codes. What they did instead was to create three dummy accounts with one Chinese and two Canadian numbers. They then started a group conversation where they shared Chinese-language articles from media organizations in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. By observing which articles were blocked, they identified the words deemed sensitive by WeChat.
The study reveals that more than 2,000 words relating to the Wuhan virus pandemic were blocked by WeChat between this January and May, even if they came in an article by the state media. That WeChat banned certain topics allowed by the state-controlled media is a sign that it adheres to an even more stringent standard.
The investigation shows how WeChat has manipulated the narrative on the pandemic from the start. It was found that back when Wuhan was placed under lockdown, WeChat was already blocking texts containing the name of the whistle-blower Li Wenliang. Reports of the Chinese authorities informing the US of the outbreak as early as on 3 January were also blocked. Articles containing the terms “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” and “SARS-CoV-2”, too, were banned from being circulated.
As the epidemic spread to the rest of world in March, WeChat began blocking articles mentioning such international organizations as the WHO and the Red Cross and those that dealt with outbreaks in countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Russia, and the UK. Articles containing keywords about the US and international relations were also banned.
#UniversityOfToronto #UofT #CitizenLab #China #WeChat #Censorship #Pandemic #WuhanVirus #Coronavirus #LiWenliang
Source: Apple Daily #Aug29
https://bit.ly/3h3ftL4
A report by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab released this week shows that censorship on WeChat has been tightened. The lab tracked changes to WeChat’s list of censored words between this January and May. It was found that over 2,000 words relating to the pandemic have been marked sensitive and blocked. An article by the state media, too, would disappear from the platform if it contains any of those sensitive words, shwoing that the freedom of expression on WeChat is even more limited than that allowed by the state media.
As WeChat censors contents on a remote server, it was not possible for the researchers to understand how the censorship works by inspecting the codes. What they did instead was to create three dummy accounts with one Chinese and two Canadian numbers. They then started a group conversation where they shared Chinese-language articles from media organizations in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. By observing which articles were blocked, they identified the words deemed sensitive by WeChat.
The study reveals that more than 2,000 words relating to the Wuhan virus pandemic were blocked by WeChat between this January and May, even if they came in an article by the state media. That WeChat banned certain topics allowed by the state-controlled media is a sign that it adheres to an even more stringent standard.
The investigation shows how WeChat has manipulated the narrative on the pandemic from the start. It was found that back when Wuhan was placed under lockdown, WeChat was already blocking texts containing the name of the whistle-blower Li Wenliang. Reports of the Chinese authorities informing the US of the outbreak as early as on 3 January were also blocked. Articles containing the terms “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” and “SARS-CoV-2”, too, were banned from being circulated.
As the epidemic spread to the rest of world in March, WeChat began blocking articles mentioning such international organizations as the WHO and the Red Cross and those that dealt with outbreaks in countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Russia, and the UK. Articles containing keywords about the US and international relations were also banned.
#UniversityOfToronto #UofT #CitizenLab #China #WeChat #Censorship #Pandemic #WuhanVirus #Coronavirus #LiWenliang
Source: Apple Daily #Aug29
https://bit.ly/3h3ftL4