According to Citizen Lab based in Toronto Canada, Chinese social media platforms already began censoring references to coronavirus and keywords critical of the government's handling of the infection as early as December.
Among the social media companies were Chinese messenger app WeChat, owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd. (OTC: TCEHY), and JOYY Inc.'s (NASDAQ: YY) video streaming app YY. The report found that the platforms had blocked keyword combinations that included criticisms of President Xi Jinping, local officials and policies linked to the virus.
Several Chinese companies "received official guidance" on how to manage virus content in the early stages of the outbreak, which expanded throughout the testing period.
Blocked terms included non-critical phrases related to public health and local rules, including "travel ban" and "people-to-people transmission". The report said YY added 45 key phrases to an internal blacklist, including "Wuhan Unknown Pneumonia" and "Wuhan Seafood Market" on December 31, a day after eight people, including Dr. Li Wenliang, raised an alarm about the virus in a WeChat group and were subsequently punished by police for "spreading rumors."
Dr. Li died of the virus in early February, sparking a wave of public mourning and fierce criticism of local officials online.
In addition to the censorship, last week China enacted a new law that effectively allows people to post only "positive" content about the country on the internet.
The Provisions on the Governance of the Online Information Content Ecosystem, which was announced December 15, came into effect on Sunday amid dissent over the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The law is designed to "create a positive online ecosystem" and "preserve national security and the public interest," the government document said.
China's censorship policies have come under scrutiny since the virus outbreak amid allegations from citizens and local media that they potentially obscured the seriousness of the outbreak in its early stages.