Censorship

All news and posts of our editorial team on the topic

Philipp Bilsky – German voice from Taipei
“The office in Taipei was an important step for our editorial team,” says Philipp Bilsky. At Deutsche Welle, he is responsible for everything that is published in Chinese. The 45-year-old set up his editorial team’s first office in the Chinese-speaking world in Taipei. From 2018, he worked there for more than four years; meanwhile, he […] continue reading →
CCTV censors Paralympics ceremony
Chinese state television continues to owe the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) an explanation for its censorship. During the live broadcast of the opening ceremony of the Paralympics last Friday in Beijing, CCTV had largely abstained from the otherwise usual simultaneous translation of the opening speech of IPC President Andrew Parsons. Among other things, Parsons strongly […] continue reading →
Disney censors Simpsons in Hong Kong
Streaming provider Disney+ has removed China-critical episode from cartoon series The Simpsons from its Hong Kong service. The 2005 episode is about a visit to Beijing by the bug-eyed US cartoon family and draws various satirical connections to the Tiananmen Square massacre, nation founder Mao Zedong or the occupation of Tibet.The episode, for example, features […] continue reading →
US concerned about the health of detained journalist
The US State Department has expressed concerns about the health of detained Chinese grassroots journalist Zhang Zhan, Reuters reports. The US had “serious concerns about the arbitrary nature of her detention and her mistreatment during it,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said. The US is calling for her “immediate and unconditional” release. The journalist has […] continue reading →
Winter Olympics: correspondents demand transparency
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) has called for more transparency in international coverage of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Over the past year, the foreign press has been hindered in its coverage of preparations for the Games, the association wrote on Twitter.For example, foreign media representatives were denied access to routine events, and journalists […] continue reading →
ZDF Info removes documentary series from media library
ZDF has withdrawn a documentary series from its media library because it adopts China’s point of view too much. A rerun of “China vs. USA – Clash of the Superpowers” in the ZDF Info program has also been canceled, the website Übermedien reports. The four-part series was produced by Mediacorp, Singapore’s state broadcaster. The series […] continue reading →
Confucius Institutes: Karliczek calls for investigation
Education Minister Anja Karliczek calls on German universities to "re-evaluate the role of Confucius Institutes in the German higher education landscape". Only recently, two Confucius Institutes had canceled the presentation of a book about Xi Jinping. The fundamental question of the independence and role of the Confucius Institutes thus takes on new topicality. continue reading →
Xi book reading takes place after all
A reading of a biography of Xi Jinping in the German city of Duisburg will take place after all – but not by the Confucius Institute affiliated with the university. Instead, the event will be organized by the university’s East Asia Institute itself, as reported by dpa. Initially, the event had been canceled due to […] continue reading →
Caixin booted off official media list
The Chinese government has removed the comparatively critical news portal Caixin from the list of media whose content may be published by other Chinese websites. This significantly damages Caixin’s reach. The publication focuses on financial and economic issues. It has maintained a significant degree of independence despite government censorship and is therefore considered an important […] continue reading →
LinkedIn: The last remaining western network leaves China
With LinkedIn, the last remaining major American social media platform, has bowed to the pressure of Chinese censorship. LinkedIn still wants to remain in China with a pure job portal. However, even before its launch this year, this project is not considered promising. And so the Chinese are now using LinkedIn in the same way as they have been using Google or Facebook for a long time: via officially forbidden but tolerated VPN channels. continue reading →
Lights out for LinkedIn China
Microsoft will shut down the localized version of its career network. The company announced on Thursday it was closing LinkedIn China due to a “significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.” Instead, the company announced the launch of a job board in China without LinkedIn’s social features. The new platform, called […] continue reading →
Xiaomi responds to Lithuania’s censorship allegations
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has hired an expert to investigate warnings by the Lithuanian government about security vulnerabilities and built-in censorship features in its phones. The independent expert will examine the points raised by Lithuania, a company spokesman said on Monday. According to Reuters, the “expert” is said to be a European organization.Last week, the […] continue reading →
BSI investigates Lithuania’s warning about Chinese smartphones
Following the Lithuanian cyber defense’s warning about security vulnerabilities and built-in censorship functionality in Chinese mobile phones, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) is now getting involved. The BSI is currently assessing the report from Lithuania, a BSI spokesperson confirmed to China.Table. The state-run Center for Cybersecurity in Vilnius had been particularly critical […] continue reading →
The party targets fan culture
Beijing wants to further limit the influence of stars in the entertainment industry. After authorities had already initiated “cleansing campaigns” against several stars and starlets (China.Table reported), they plan to take action against fans and supporters of stars. “Literature and art is an important battlefield of thought and ideology and thus an extremely important work […] continue reading →
Hong Kong also censors older movies
Hong Kong is now moving closer to the mainland’s censorship methods in the movie industry. An amendment to the law passed on Tuesday provides for the immediate screening of older films for possible violations of the National Security Act before being shown to the public. This is to include movies that have already been given […] continue reading →
Chinese state-owned company has access to Apple Cloud
Apple is proactively censoring its Chinese app store and storing data on its Chinese customers on servers managed by Chinese state-owned enterprises, according to new research by The New York Times. The newspaper was able to evaluate internal documents for the first time and conducted interviews with former and current employees of the corporation. According […] continue reading →
Signal blocked in China
Messenger app Signal has been blocked in mainland China. Since Monday evening, there have been disruptions in sending and receiving messages with Signal, according to users. In addition, there are problems with the registration. Currently, Signal can only be used via a VPN connection. This allows users to bypass China’s so-called “Great Firewall” and continue […] continue reading →
Beijing reportedly censored online search for ‘stock market’
According to media reports, the Chinese word for “stock market” (股市) is blocked in social media and online searches in China. According to the report, the background is that state-backed funds had intervened earlier in the week to calm the Chinese stock market with purchases. On the web version of Weibo, the Twitter-like platform with […] continue reading →