COVID-19 increased censorship circumvention and access to sensitive topics in China

Abstract

Crisis motivates people to track news closely, and this increased engagement can expose individuals to politically sensitive information unrelated to the initial crisis. We use the case of the COVID-19 outbreak in China to examine how crisis affects information seeking in countries that normally exert significant control over access to media. The crisis spurred censorship circumvention and access to international news and political content on websites blocked in China. Once individuals circumvented censorship, they not only received more information about the crisis itself but also accessed unrelated information that the regime has long censored. Using comparisons to democratic and other authoritarian countries also affected by early outbreaks, the findings suggest that people blocked from accessing information most of the time might disproportionately and collectively access that long-hidden information during a crisis. Evaluations resulting from this access, negative or positive for a government, might draw on both current events and censored history.

Intra‐professional stress—demonstrating veterinarian identity in Hong Kong

“…While the majority of our participants suggested the stressor induced by the COVID-19 was minimal, we speculate that there was a degree of self-censorship due to political sensitivity as the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic overlapped with the series of protests associated with the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement and discussions on National Security Law. 49,50 During the social unrest, riot police used teargas for crowd control and posed concerns over the health of human and animals. 51 Participants avoided macropolitical discussions, despite some veterinary clinics and animal welfare organisations were forced to close or to evacuate their staff and animals.…”

How governance shaped military responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

“…This is likely to be the case for several reasons. First, autocracies generally do not have the capacity to enforce complete censorship 11 ; even a highly capable and well-resourced state like China has struggled to control its citizens' spread of information and opinions (Chang et al, 2022). Second, autocracies usually pick and choose which topics they consider to be threatening (King et al, 2013).…”

‘Medical Corona Science’: Philosophical and systemic issues: Re‐thinking medicine? On the epistemology of Corona medicine

“…For example, as depicted in Figure 1 scientists (4) can communicate their knowledge directly to the mass media (6) without going through politics (5). Scientists who circumvent official channels are in danger of being censored or even classified as conspiracy thinkers if their views are not compatible with official messages about the pandemic 4 . Only a certain degree of diversity in expert opinions seems to be acceptable.…”

“…The virus and its mutants (1) determine the infection status of the population (2), a part of which shows up in health care (3), which is registered by data bases of research institutes for MCS. These data are then analyzed and communicated, for instance as incidence curves, to political agencies (4) and also occasionally to the public media.…”

“…Scientists who circumvent official channels are in danger of being censored or even classified as conspiracy thinkers if their views are not compatible with official messages about the pandemic. 4 Only a certain degree of diversity in expert opinions seems to be acceptable.…”