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China Censors Online Discussion About Panama Papers (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BBC: China appears to be censoring social media posts on the Panama Papers document leak which has named several members of China's elite, including President Xi Jinping's brother-in-law. Hundreds of posts on networks such as Sina Weibo and Wechat on the topic have been deleted since Monday morning. According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the Panama Papers show that Mr. Deng acquired two offshore companies in 2009, at a time when Mr. Xi was rising in politics. State media appeared to black out the news. But many on microblogging network Sina Weibo and mobile chat network Wechat were discussing the topic on Monday morning, sharing Chinese translations of details of the story, including information on Mr. Deng. A hashtag created on the topic quickly trended. Checks by the BBC found that by the end of the day many of those posts had disappeared, with at least 481 discussions deleted from the hashtag's Weibo topic page, and other posts shared on Wechat also deleted. The website Freeweibo.com, which actively tracks censorship on Weibo, listed "Panama" as the second-most censored term on the network.
China has been surprisingly open WRT to the Panama Papers. The US has censored the release of the documents in every which way it can.
If I want information about the Panama Papers, I'll turn to China first, every time.
Weibo is heavily censored, but there are alternative search engines for weibo which are outside of China's jurisdiction
One example is https://freeweibo.com/
For example, in the 'Panama Papers' case, (if you know Mandarin), you do not enter the "Pa Na Ma" in pu tong hua as they are, but using alternative words to search
Despite the hundreds of thousands of censors from China, there are still a lot of conversations taking place, even inside weibo, regarding the "Panama Papers"
Upon further digging, I found out that weibo might be censored, but the "Panama Papers" has proven to be too hot to contain
http://www.jianshu.com/p/463d19e7f47a?from=timeline&isappinstalled=0
The above link is an example - it is a link from the Jian Shu province of China, and the author of the comment has dished out quite a lot of details, including the photocopy of the passport of the daughter of a former Chinese premier
I do not know how long the above link will remain valid - but the existence of the above link is a proof that the "Panama Papers" has spread throughout the Chinese online world
The real problem for this one for the Chinese government is that, if I recall correctly, one of the few things (only thing?) that can be legally protested over is the corruption of government officials.
This could really blow up in their faces. Badly.
"China censors" should be sufficient.
As an EU citizen, I'm appalled that Chinese citizens don't have free access to information and don't have free speech. This is wrong and goes against everything we believe in. It is our duty to spread our freedom to the world and demand that non-free countries become free. If necessary, we should use force. I'm advocating going to war with China and the United States for the good of the people in those countries. It's unacceptable for leaders to censor information that might make them look bad. We're free to speak out against our governments, spread any ideas we desire, and read or hear any information that might be available. That includes things that are damaging to our leaders. This freedom is a human right. We have a duty to demand human rights for all. If China doesn't allow free access to information, we should go to war with them. If the United States doesn't allow free access to information, we need to go to war with them, as well. Freedom is more important than even political and military alliances.
From what I've heard about China, this is a big deal. Living in or near China, people generally say they're allowed to talk online, even criticizing the government, so long as they don't plan to meet. As soon as the talk turns toward actions, it becomes verboten. (Someone living in China, please correct me if I'm wrong.)
So this must be quite a big deal. It'll be interesting to see whether there's aftermath to the censorship.
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
Look ma, no Americans in the list of released names....And you USA wankers worry about China...bloody Americans
China's political party turns back from the sea, into the desert. They speak of corruption, but in reality, when faced with it, in their families, they do nothing. So much for 'communism'. Really, they are oligarchs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Consortium_of_Investigative_Journalists
just see who funds the icij then talk about china censoring results.
Hint: it's the us gov plus many big interests groups.
Shocking!
"To get rich is glorious." remember?
President Xi is going through a massive "anti-corruption" campaign right now; so far they've arrested several thousand party members and bureaucrats and many thousands more have been thrown from office, their fortunes confiscated.
https://www.chinafile.com/infographics/visualizing-chinas-anti-corruption-campaign
The purpose of this campaign is not so much to root out corruption however, it's Xi's attempt to consolidate power. He's using the offshore holdings and shady dealings, which are as prevalent amongst his supporters as they are against his political opponents, to squash potential rivals or remove obstacles to his consolidation of power; this is the same thing that happened under Deng Xiao Ping and it's the same thing that happened under the Cultural Revolution under Mao.
In this, the Panama Papers play right into his hands. He'll lose a few supporters like his brother-in-law sure, but there's far too much evidence for him to use against his detractors in these papers that he's going to take the hit; the net effect of this release will only increase his power in China. So in this, it's not surprising at all that they "haven't been able to squash discussion" of the Panama Papers; they play right into his consolidation of power. So there's a token effort to censor it that is "failing", but he wants it to fail, he wants the discussion there to justify his removal of people that aren't his direct supporters.
This is the logical equivalent of "Well, the Americans don't seem to like Hitler, soooo...."
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Ever heard the term "obvious troll is obvious"?
Yes, but I still don't get why you need to repeat the adjective twice.
Aggression does, defending someone else doesn't. We don't have a right to take away someone else's rights just because some voting took place.
The only surprising thing is that the operations being disclosed in the Panama Papers are mostly legal. Of course, legal to those who can afford them. Such legality was deliberately created by the elite so that they might be exempt from the same draconian taxation that they imposed on the rest of us to finance their crony privileges and elections. The only scandal is that we the people cannot shelter our meager savings from the voracious appetite of the ultimate elite, the state.
I have always wondered, where does the 1% keep all their money?
People say their money is invested, but we all know that is a blatant lie.
It is sitting in offshore accounts, doing absolutely nothing, except hiding.
The Icelandic president has just gone. Who next?