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Prof. Jyh-An LEE interviewed by the ABC News (Chinese) on image censorship over social media

Posted on 19 July, 2019

Prof. Jyh-An LEE was interviewed by the ABC News (Chinese) regarding WeChat’s censorship mechanisms to screen images. According to a recent study conducted by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, WeChat applies stricter censorship standards to images shared in the group chats and Moments than those shared in one-to-one chats. Prof. Lee explained the distinction is because Tencent needs to consider market reaction toward restricting information sharing while complying with the government regulations at the same time. As WeChat’s group chats and Moments could be easily used for netizens’ collective action disfavoured by the Chinese government, it is not surprising that such venues are subject to a higher degree of censorship.

Read the full article (in Chinese) here.