Chinese social media censored coronavirus terms and criticism early in outbreak, report says

Chinese social media platformsbegan censoring references to coronavirus and keywords criticalof the government's handling of the infection as early asDecember, Toronto-based cyber research group Citizen Lab said ina report on Tuesday.

Chinese messenger app WeChat, owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd, and JOYY Inc.'s video streaming app YY blocked keyword combinations that included criticisms of President XiJinping, local officials and policies linked to the virus, the report found.

Citizen Lab said the findings, gathered between December andFebruary, suggest that companies "received official guidance" onhow to manage virus content in the early stages of the outbreak,which expanded throughout the testing period.

Blocked terms also included non-critical phrases related topublic health and local rules, including "travel ban" and"people-to-people transmission."

Tencent and YY did not immediately respond to requests forcomment on Tuesday.

Chinese social media companies are subject to strict lawsrequiring them to censor content that "undermines socialstability" or is critical of the central government, controlsthat have tightened under Xi.

The Cyberspace Administration of China, which overseesonline content laws, did not respond to a request for comment onTuesday.

China's censorship policies have come under scrutiny sincethe virus outbreak amid allegations from netizens and localmedia that they potentially obscured the seriousness of theoutbreak in its early stages.

The report said YY added 45 key phrases to an internalblacklist, including "Wuhan Unknown Pneumonia" and "WuhanSeafood Market" on Dec 31, a day after eight people, including Dr. Li Wenliang, raised an alarm about the virus in a WeChatgroup and were subsequently punished by police for "spreadingrumours."

Li died of the virus in early February, sparking a wave ofpublic mourning and fierce criticism of local officials online.

The Citizen Lab report said keywords relating to Li werecensored after his death in February, including combinations ofthe words "virus," "Li Wenliang," "central government," and"epidemic."

It saidthe group was able to collect a full list ofnewly added blacklisted words from YY during the period, and asample from WeChat based on attempted keywords and combinations.

Censorship rules are strictly enforced in China, andinternet companies have faced service suspensions and fines inthe past for failure to fully comply with them.