“Both feminist and LGBT student organisations are seen as being influenced by western values or manipulated by foreign powers, so: purge them all,” she said. The feminist activist Xiong Jing said the shutdowns were “quite a strong signal that the authorities don’t welcome anything that ‘contravenes’ mainstream values”. Tencent, the parent company of WeChat, did not explain the reasons behind the mass takedowns, and declined to comment when contacted by the Guardian. Xianzi is seen as a key figure of China’s #MeToo movement after she accused her former employer, a popular television host, of sexual harassment. On Wednesday afternoon the Weibo account of Zhou Xiaoxuan, popularly known as Xianzi, was suspended for a year for violating “Weibo complaint regulations”. The US state department spokesperson, Ned Price, said the department was aware of the shutdowns and was concerned that China had restricted the accounts of groups that were “merely expressing their views, exercising their right to freedom of expression and freedom of speech”.Ĭhina’s social media giants routinely censor content considered to be politically or culturally sensitive, but it is often unclear if such decisions come from government directions or are made internally, based on what is believed to be expected by government. “I can’t believe this happened in 2021, I can’t believe it happened in the universities which should have the most pioneering spirit and be teaching people tolerance and respect,” said another. “Every love deserves to be seen and respected,” said one. Many Weibo comments appeared to be deleted quickly, but others expressed anger at the censorship. “We were able to create a reliable channel with the outside, but now our communication will largely rely on Weibo and private WeChat groups,” it said. On Weibo, a post by the Shihe Society at Fudan University confirming the shutdown of its WeChat account was shared tens of thousands of times. WeChat is free to download for iPhone and Android users.The shutdowns have added to concern over China’s worsening intolerance of sexual and gender minorities and activism, which has also targeted feminist groups and individuals who have sought to push back against discrimination. The app doesn't have any sort of encryption, meaning that your messages can be potentially intercepted and read by third-party groups. This is especially the case in China, where certain topics are actively censored and Tencent shares user data with the government. However, it's not nearly as secure as other messaging apps like Signal or Telegram. This comes with a localization feature that will translate messages and content between 20 different languages. It also has a feature called WeChat Out that lets you call international landlines at a low rate. You can also share your real-time location with friends, play mini-games with each other, and post to a Story-like feature called "moments." WeChat supports the basics like voice chatting, picture messaging, and video calling. Services like Facebook are banned in China, so WeChat is the standard for business and communication. Launched in 2011 and owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent, WeChat has grown from a messaging app to become a unique social media hybrid.
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