Toronto, March 3, 2020 — A new report by researchers at the Munk School’s Citizen Lab reveals that keywords related to the coronavirus have been censored on two popular Chinese social media applications since the early days of the outbreak. The analysis of YY and WeChat indicates broad censorship — blocking sensitive terms as well as general information and neutral references — potentially limiting the public’s ability to access information that may be essential to their health and safety.
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China tech groups censored information about coronavirus (Financial Times)
Chinese social media censored coronavirus terms and criticism early in outbreak, report says (CBC)
China’s WeChat censorship during COVID-19 outbreak poses public health risk (Globe and Mail)
The WeChat messaging app has been censoring coronavirus content since January (Buzzfeed News)
Coronavirus: China Censors (CBC Radio One)
Coronavirus: la Chine accusée d’avoir passé soud silence l’épidémie à ses débuts (La Tribune)
Coronavirus: Chinese app WeChat censored virus content since 1 Jan (BBC)
Report says China internet firms censored coronavirus terms, criticism early in outbreak (Daily Mail)
