Chinese media has ignored the pro-democracy protests which took place these past few days in Hong Kong. Major socializing networks have been blocked or censored. People cannot access any information or pictures related to the protests. In Hong Kong civilians have occupied the streets protesting against the political views of Beijing. On the streets of Hong Kong there have been numerous people taking pictures and filming the incidents. An assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong tried to explain the reason why some of these social media websites have recently not been functioning: “In the past two days, we can see a lot of people holding phones and taking pictures of different scenes on Instagram, Facebook and sharing it around. It’s a huge amount of pictures posted in a short period of time.”
He believes this might be the reason why these websites appear to be censored or down. He also stated that such websites were viewed as harmless and that there would be no good reason to censor them. However, it is a well-known fact that the Chinese government has maintained a rigorous control over the internet and social media platforms. This includes Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or Google. According to Weiboscope – a Hong Kong University platform which monitors posts, the most deleted posts were the ones regarding Hong Kong. More than 150 Weibo posts about Hong Kong were censored, according to Weiboscope. The reason why China might have censored the images of protesters in Hong Kong fighting with authorities is because they represent a very sensitive subject for the Chinese population.
Just like in 1989, when protesters asked for democracy and political reform in the Tiananamen Square, the same is happening these days. “If you look at the political agenda of protests in Hong Kong, they have the same objectives. They’re calling for democracy in Hong Kong and political reform. These are two main sensitive topics in China. This is the topic they don’t want the Chinese citizens to widely discuss,” Fu – an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong said. Xiao Qiang, professor at the School of Information at the University of California said the following: “The Chinese government fears that these kinds of protest and exercise of rights demanding greater political freedom will be contagious and trigger something in China,” he said. “That’s what they fear the most.” This might be just enough reason for the Chinese authorities to try and control information which is directed at its population, by censoring any means of mass communication. They fear people might stand up and wish to exercise their rights by asking for more political freedom.
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Search engines in China have also been censored. Articles about recent events in Hong Kong have been impossible to access while other articles about older pro-Beijing protests were showing. Articles about Hong Kong have displayed messages like “In accordance with relevant laws, regulations and policies, search results could not be displayed.”