How China censored its social media amid a wave of mass attacks
China has undergone three mass attacks in the past two weeks in which lone men, apparently unprovoked, attacked groups of civilians. While amateur images of the attacks were broadly shared outside of China, these images and related hashtags were quickly removed on Chinese social media, with critics accusing the Chinese government of using censorship in an attempt to control the narrative.
China has experienced a deadly wave of attacks on civilians this month. On November 11, a man drove his SUV into a crowd in the southern city of Zhuhai, killing at least 35 people. On November 16, a mass stabbing attack took place at Wuxi University in the east, killing eight people. And on November 19, a man crashed his car in front of a school in Changde in Hunan province, injuring several people.
On X, which is banned in China and not subject to Chinese censorship, accounts shared amateur images of each of the attacks.
Yet in the parallel world of Chinese social media, these images were largely absent.
Outside China, social media users have posted screenshots showing suspected examples of censorship for all three incidents. They indicate different patterns of censorship.
#1 - Hashtags disactivated on Weibo
For Slaten, the consequences of such censorship deeply impact Chinese society.
