Mon December, 2020, Age: 3 years
An investigation by the New York Times and ProPublica has looked at thousands of secret orders and directives regarding coronavirus censorship in China. The documents lay bare in extraordinary detail the systems that helped the Chinese authorities shape online opinion during the pandemic. At a time when digital media is deepening social divides in Western democracies, China is manipulating online discourse to enforce the Communist Party’s consensus. To stage-manage what appeared on the Chinese internet early this year, the authorities issued strict commands on the content and tone of news coverage, directed paid trolls to inundate social media with party-line blather and deployed security forces to muzzle unsanctioned voices.
