China Is Tracking Users Sharing Coronavirus Information On Social Media

The government of China is identifying people on social media platforms like WeChat and Twitter, who are spreading any negative information related to coronavirus. As reported by Vice, the practice of protest and disagreement amongst the Chinese people towards the government is not new.

Online protests related to Coronavirus have increased on a large scale in China just after the death of Li Wenliang, who was the whistleblower of Coronavirus. After his death, people started using the hashtag “I want the freedom of speech” on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. Around 2 million posts were created using the hashtag, which were soon removed from the platform by the government.

The report by Vice said that the Chinese government is also targeting individuals who are highly indulged in spreading information related to Coronavirus. A Chinese man said that he tried to share information related to Coronavirus on WeChat with his family living in China as he was in California. The Chinese government inquired about his location in California by coercing his friends and he also received a warning message saying someone tried to access his WeChat account in Shanghai.

Another Chinese man said that a few government officials visited his home situated in Dongguan after tracking his response to a sensitive tweet. The tweet was related to the Chinese government’s measures to handle the Coronavirus outbreak. The officials told the man that the tweet was a direct attack on the Chinese government. His phone was seized, and the officials made him sign a statement saying that he would not repeat it.

As per the latest real-time stats, 2,699 people have been killed due to coronavirus and more than 80,000 cases have been registered.