Date of 4 June remains one of China’s strictest taboos, with government using increasingly sophisticated tools to censor its discussion

There is no official death toll but activists believe hundreds, possibly thousands, were killed by China’s People’s Liberation Army in the streets around Tiananmen Square, Beijing’s central plaza, on 4 June 1989.

The date of 4 June remains one of China’s strictest taboos, and the Chinese government employs extensive and increasingly sophisticated resources to censor any discussion or acknowledgment of it inside China. Internet censors scrub even the most obscure references to the date from online spaces, and activists in China are often put under increased surveillance or sent on enforced “holidays” away from Beijing.

New research from human rights workers has found that the sensitive date also sees heightened transnational repression of Chinese government critics overseas by the government and its proxies.

  • Katana314@lemmy.world
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    21 hours ago

    I agree their censorship is too high in China, though, but I think it’s a result of siege theory.

    Buddy, fuck right the hell off. The USA is not the only country with free media. Small countries do it too. Al Jazeera is quartered in Qatar, and is critical of both the USA and China. China enacts the Great Firewall because they’re power-hungry, not because they want to fucking stay safe, and they are not in any regard a third world country.

    • WanderingVentra@lemm.ee
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      17 hours ago

      Al Jazeera is a terrible for you, but a great example for my point. It never mentions things critical of Qatar ever. It’s good for news about other stuff, like Palestine, which the US media is likewise horrible about covering. It’s why nobody here knew about the situation there until October 7th.