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China Censors Social Media Responses To Proposal To Abolish Presidential Terms (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the nod-and-smile dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Negative social media reactions in China toward the government's interest in abolishing presidential term limits have sparked a crackdown on memes since Sunday evening. China's constitution currently restricts the president and vice-president to 10 years of leadership, meaning that President Xi Jinping would have been out of power by 2023. The Party's Central Committee proposed removing a phrase in the constitution that stated the two leaders would "serve no more than two consecutive terms," according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. Authorities will vote on the proposal in March. Many took to social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo with Winnie the Pooh memes, as the animated bear resembles President Xi Jinping to some degree. Winnie the Pooh has been associated with Xi for years and this week, he donned a crown and sat on a throne, enjoying his honey pot. These memes and social media posts were then taken down, hours after the Committee's announcement, signaling that the public's reaction was more unfavorable than authorities predicted. An assortment of phrases have been filtered out by new censors, including "constitution amendment," "re-elected," "proclaim oneself as emperor," and "two term limit." The lag time between the censorship and the initial proposal indicates authorities expected the public to react less critically.

3 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. Re:On that note: by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2, Informative

    Really?

    http://news.gallup.com/poll/16...

    Polls suggest they are on the side of the majority on gun control.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Re: No, he's a typical Communist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    FU

    They don't practice Communism anymore, you asshole. They practice Chinese Nationalism, only now they do it on the backs of the American middle class.

    Idiot. If you go to China or Russia right now, everywhere you look or listen they are attacking "the left" or "liberalism". You chumps don't know the difference between crap or shit.

  3. Re: No, he's a typical Communist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    And you clearly don't know the difference between a regular Scotsman and a True Scotsman.