Avalanche of erotic content. It’s a parade organized to drown out images and information on Twitter related to the angry protests against health restrictions and more freedoms that have erupted in China since late November. FRANCE 24 observers were the first to notice this digital anomaly.
A simple search is enough to see it. any internet user who types in Chinese characters the names of the cities where the most important gatherings took place: Beijing (北京), Shanghai (上海), Nanjing (南京), Zhengzhou (郑州), Canton (广州) or Wuhan (武汉) immediately fall mostly on erotic or suggestive tweets, in the middle of which it is difficult to find videos or messages about the demonstrations.
Fake computer managed accounts
The Twitter accounts that broadcast these messages are probably fake accounts; their creation date is a few months old at best and they have very few subscribers or subscriptions. The images and videos they post are being reposted by other accounts at an alarming rate, indicating that those accounts are likely being run by software designed to bombard Twitter with polluting images.
This photo, for example, is reposted about every minute by this account, which has only two followers and no followers. The profile photo appears on other accounts that also post the same sexually suggestive image. A simple reverse search on Baidu, the ‘Chinese Google’, reveals that most of these erotic images come from Chinese dating or porn sites.
Another example. this account, which has only seven subscribers and no followers, was created in November 2022 and broadcasts an image like this every minute with supposedly catchy messages, in this case:I’m single, can I find a husband on Twitter?»
Chinese regime behind censorship.
It is difficult to provide objective proof of Beijing’s responsibility for this massive digital censorship operation. But the method used leaves little room for doubt. It is very rare that pornographic or sexual content is shared on social networks. The Chinese government usually takes care to stifle this kind of content. Therefore, it is almost impossible for independent Internet users to be the source of these messages.
One thing is certain, controlling Twitter is a matter of great influence for the Chinese regime. If the social network is theoretically banned in the Middle Kingdom, it is actually a space of freedom that is mostly escaping from Beijing. Proof: the images of the demonstrations, although suppressed, remain available.
Source: Le Figaro
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.