This post contains a large volume of interactive embedded media, which may take time to load correctly.
The current wave of protests across China in the wake of a deadly fire in Urumqi has been closely tracked and analysed on Twitter by on-the-ground observers, with others relaying content from Chinese social media, and still others providing context and commentary from elsewhere. Frustration with China’s unpredictable and rigid zero-COVID regime has been mounting for some time, including offline eruptions from a solo protest in Beijing on the eve of the recent Party Congress to mass actions by workers at Foxconn’s plant in Zhengzhou. The latest wave of protests is fueled by suspicions that COVID restrictions are to blame for the fire deaths, and that the true death toll has been concealed. It marks a significant escalation, appearing to cross the geographic and ethnic lines that have tended to isolate political movements in the past, and including some explicit calls for broad political change. CDT will have more news and translation coverage soon.
The torrent of information underscores Twitter’s exceptional value as a channel for breaking news. On Mastodon, the decentralized network widely embraced as an alternative to Twitter after the latter’s controversial recent sale to tech tycoon Elon Musk, many users lamented the relative paucity of information circulating there, much of which had itself originated from Twitter. At the same time, though, the wealth of information posted to Twitter also highlights what is at stake amid mounting questions over the site’s ability to moderate content, ward off malicious interference, and even reliably stay online under its new management.
One person chronicling events was the Associated Press’ Dake Kang, whose carefully measured thread contextualized the protests and the events that triggered them with the AP’s own reporting:
The Urumqi apartment fire and protests are crystallizing anger just as large swaths of China seems poised to hurtle into further lockdowns as case counts explode. A volatile combination…https://t.co/uvTPa0BXbD
— Dake Kang (@dakekang) November 26, 2022
We got some Urumqi residents to tell us what they were feeling and seeing on the ground. One Uyghur woman told us most of the protesters were Han Chinese – not because Uyghurs weren't angry, but because they were scared…
— Dake Kang (@dakekang) November 26, 2022
I interviewed the relative of five of the victims of the Urumqi fire, Abdulhafız Muhammed Emin. He broke down in tears repeatedly while speaking to me over the phone about his aunt and four of his cousins, who perished in the blaze.https://t.co/aNyeauYyAb
— Dake Kang (@dakekang) November 26, 2022
Urumqi city authorities say apartment residents were free to enter and leave, and that there were no barricades blocking the exits. Urumqi's fire chief blamed residents instead, saying “Some residents’ ability to rescue themselves was too weak"https://t.co/ad5Khww3xU
— Dake Kang (@dakekang) November 26, 2022
Videos of a fire truck spraying water onto the fire show that it was initially parked too far from the blaze to combat it effectively. Emergency workers ultimately took 3 hours to control the blaze, raising questions about why it took so long. pic.twitter.com/scSzTs9Nrf
— Dake Kang (@dakekang) November 26, 2022
The protests are extraordinary because they took place in Xinjiang, one of the most heavily policed places on earth. To my knowledge, there hasn't been a protest of this scale in XJ since 2016, possibly since 2009. Mostly Han protesters waved Chinese flagshttps://t.co/GCGEwpaW3f
— Dake Kang (@dakekang) November 26, 2022
We heard from multiple Urumqi residents that they didn't believe the official death toll. Emim Muhammed, the fire victim's relatives, said he was told by a neighbor of his aunt that the death toll was significantly higher. We were not able to verify this ourselves. pic.twitter.com/54i08hGoGL
— Dake Kang (@dakekang) November 26, 2022
At the same time, it's difficult to tell if the death toll was manipulated, because residents we interviewed often cited unverified social media posts as evidence for their claims. Censorship breeds rumors, rumors breed questions, ascertaining the truth becomes an impossible task
— Dake Kang (@dakekang) November 26, 2022
Waking to seeing this – protesters in Shanghai openly shouting “习近平，下台！共产党，下台！”("Step down, Xi Jinping!")
Utterly surreal. Scenes we've never seen before in Xi's China.https://t.co/CUnm5TdY6t
— Dake Kang (@dakekang) November 27, 2022
Legions of others provided updates on the expanding protests as they unfolded over the weekend:
Looking at Urumqi super topic on Weibo, people outside of Xinjiang are cheering for the people in Xinjiang.
Scrolled quite a bit. Fury towards the officials and support for the people are almost all you could see now. pic.twitter.com/TWcdrkhmCw
— Chu Yang (@ChuYang_Journ) November 25, 2022
Students at several universities posted signs in public to protest, while students at CUCN held candles in memory of the fire victims and medical students published an open letter against the current covid policy. Haven’t seen anything like this since 1989. pic.twitter.com/dGHu5iHrNL
— Chu Yang (@ChuYang_Journ) November 26, 2022
‘We want freedom!’ pic.twitter.com/yoTeYaFJAx
— Eva Rammeloo (@eefjerammeloo) November 26, 2022
Asked a police officer if he agreed with the people. He smiled with a very long silence. ‘We can’t do anything about it. Mei banfa.’
— Eva Rammeloo (@eefjerammeloo) November 26, 2022
I’m heading home now. Just want to add how incredible this is. Never seen anything like this in the decade that I report on China. The anger seems too much to crack down on. Wonder what happens next.
— Eva Rammeloo (@eefjerammeloo) November 26, 2022
Lu Xun quotations at BLCU:
"They eat people — and who's to say they won't eat me?"
"I found myself crying out to comfort those brave souls struggling forward through the loneliness, so that they wouldn't be afraid of what lay ahead" https://t.co/YzmkwZPPpl— Brendan O'Kane (@bokane) November 26, 2022
Those who have lived in Hong Kong during 2019-2021, including many of my hongkongers friends,will find these photos so familiar. We all got bit traumatized,worrying about the consequences and failures. But ppl learn from history, there are always courageous souls in this country pic.twitter.com/s03tsokFBW
— Vivian Wu (@vivianwubeijing) November 26, 2022
Xiao Hong Shu (小红书) full of calls for Banana Peel (香蕉皮= xjp) to step down.
— Donald Clarke (@donaldcclarke@mastodon.online) (@donaldcclarke) November 27, 2022
Tsinghua students, true to form, protesting lockdowns with the Friedmann Equation: the basic reality of the universe is constant, eternal expansion, or put another way, opening up. https://t.co/S9Q8SxGB7W
— Even 🐀 (@Even_Pay) November 27, 2022
Protest on Tsinghua campus. This is very rare after 1989. pic.twitter.com/4Yzt0YgG7m
— Yang Zhang (@ProfYangZhang) November 27, 2022
Wulumuqi lu has now been barricaded. There’s some protesting and singing in the streets around though. But police sweeps the area effectively. pic.twitter.com/pgXbMCQVWh
— Eva Rammeloo (@eefjerammeloo) November 27, 2022
Nice infographic by @initiumnews
Initium counted 79 universities across 15 provinces in China where displays or mourning or protests against COVID controls were observed. pic.twitter.com/j9Zifm5Sqz
— Aaron Mc Nicholas (@aaronMCN) November 27, 2022
Now on BJ along Liangmaqiao river a very solemn and silent protest for the Victims of Urumqi. People lite candles and sing the anthem. And hold white papers. There is about a hundred people by now. pic.twitter.com/FRl4eKyabF
— anouk eigenraam (@askimono) November 27, 2022
For now police handling cautiously. Asking crowd to disperse for covid safety reasons. Mostly young, white collar crowd now singing patriotic anthems
— David Rennie 任大伟 (@DSORennie) November 27, 2022
Police officer asking for the organiser. Crowd answers “we organise ourselves” . “We understand you’re annoyed,” says the policeman.
— David Rennie 任大伟 (@DSORennie) November 27, 2022
Beijing right now: police have arrived but people gathered to mourn the Xinjiang fire victims are peacefully surrounding them and singing pic.twitter.com/BOt9YHCNO3
— Vivian Wang (@vwang3) November 27, 2022
People singing a farewell song. People also expressed solidarity with Shanghai but asked to let it not end like Shanghai as in ‘violent’. pic.twitter.com/pT11PN58fN
— anouk eigenraam (@askimono) November 27, 2022
Scenes from tonight’s protest in Beijing, where a few hundred mostly young people gathered near the Liangma canal to mourn for the Urumqi fire victims, light candles, play music and hold up blank sheets of paper. The atmosphere has been mostly calm throughout. pic.twitter.com/B58Lx7wenF
— Laurie Chen (@lauriechenwords) November 27, 2022
One handy Covid detail is that plain clothes police are easy to see in their regulation N95 face masks
— David Rennie 任大伟 (@DSORennie) November 27, 2022
Beijing tonight, right now. 京城大厦 Beijing Capital Club, a landmark 5-star mansion on the third ring road, kilos away from Liang Ma Qiao. Ppl chanting “ 不要谎言要尊严” which means we don’t want lies, we want dignity. It’s happening right now! pic.twitter.com/15twpkPS1W
— Vivian Wu (@vivianwubeijing) November 27, 2022
This video is making its rounds on WeChat, allegedly showing a street sign taken down at Wulumuqi Rd in Shanghai. Someone joked: "Are they changing it to Road 404 now?" pic.twitter.com/I06Rae1Vkw
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) November 27, 2022
Brief chant of “don’t want face masks, want freedom”. Very brief flickers of “the song of angry men” but it hasn’t taken off all evening. Crowd careful to sing Chinese songs and anthems
— David Rennie 任大伟 (@DSORennie) November 27, 2022
Many Chinese journos at this moment were in tears watching the video. It’s happening. Still in Liang Ma He 亮马河 area. A girl shows “Give movies back, we want cinema freedom. We want free expression. give media back, give us journalism back”. Ppl echoed. It’s going unstoppable. pic.twitter.com/76OjQCoISN
— Vivian Wu (@vivianwubeijing) November 27, 2022
Nearly midnight and cars honking in support on Third Ring Road pic.twitter.com/CfjWEzKW3v
— David Rennie 任大伟 (@DSORennie) November 27, 2022
More in this powerful video. She reads “let’s remember the lives died in the collapsed quarantine building, remember the mother died of a miscarriage in front of Xian hospital because she had no health code”. I put context here so not direct translation. So many buried stories. https://t.co/oiSKEhKGlY
— Vivian Wu (@vivianwubeijing) November 27, 2022
Tonight, so close to my home in Beijing. A woman movingly lists out all those who lost their lives due to Zero Covid policies. 🕯️ let’s see what tomorrow brings. pic.twitter.com/hg5TS7PYAS
— Emily Feng 冯哲芸 (@EmilyZFeng) November 27, 2022
Today’s protest art as in “We found the foreign forces who stole the sign of Ürümqi Road” https://t.co/t9PQrbEY4e
— Tony Lin 林東尼 (@tony_zy) November 27, 2022
130am in Beijing. Still going. Cries of “we want freedom, we want human rights” pic.twitter.com/k62Goloaof
— David Rennie 任大伟 (@DSORennie) November 27, 2022
(Note: Brendan O’Kane points out that the cry is likely jiefeng 解封, or “lift the lockdown,” not jiefang 解放, or “liberate.”)
Police in Shanghai arresting BBC journalist @EP_Lawrence . Pro tip: Dragging accredited journalists off for doing their job is always a bad look. https://t.co/9uvRQCxxKz
— John Ruwitch (@jruwitch) November 27, 2022
Continued. Ppl echoed “ no, nobody should be taken away.” One voice shouted “ don’t film his face, let’s protect him”. He responded “ it’s ok”. https://t.co/mzMjEKbVvy
— Vivian Wu (@vivianwubeijing) November 27, 2022
“I want to see movies” gets 3.5k retweets on Weibo. This is how repressed ppl feel at the moment. pic.twitter.com/rsz5rtS26W
— Tony Lin 林東尼 (@tony_zy) November 27, 2022
Xindong Lu, Beijing: "What happened in Urumqi could happen to us here tomorrow…we're here for the sake of our elders and our children. Show us the [true] death toll [from the Urumqi fire]!" https://t.co/tyLbYqQYS5
— Brendan O'Kane (@bokane) November 27, 2022
Just in.#Chengdu ppl were walking peacefully on streets, chanting “ we don’t want Covid virus test. We want freedom”. The crowds gathered since around 8pm and continued till 2am at least local time. #ChinaProtests pic.twitter.com/ptFjdjjOOE
— Vivian Wu (@vivianwubeijing) November 27, 2022
Quick and dirty translation (h/t @MattCKnight for the suggestion); condensed in alt text. The original speech is transcribed in replies to the original post. https://t.co/3pfLiXRgkx pic.twitter.com/IxicNEVuKw
— Brendan O'Kane (@bokane) November 27, 2022
BBC Statement on Ed Lawrence pic.twitter.com/wedDetCtpF
— BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) November 27, 2022
While the above collection focuses on English-language materials, @whyyoutouzhele has been a particularly notable source in Chinese.
Beyond accounts of the protests, Twitter offered a platform for Xinjiang specialists to critique media coverage of the story. From Georgetown’s James Millward and the University of Sheffield’s David Tobin, for example:
1. Obviously try to find out what happened (how many dead? were doors and gates sealed? Could people exit freely as Urumchi officials said? Who were the victims? What ethnicity?
— James Millward 米華健 (@JimMillward) November 26, 2022
2. But, the official version seems met by general skepticism in PRC, esp. regarding sealed doors and barriers blocking fire crews. This is perhaps because people all across China have seen the fire hazards caused by lockdown
— James Millward 米華健 (@JimMillward) November 26, 2022
3. Do Han protestors believe that the victims of the fire are Uyghur or Han? Or not care? Han solidarity for non-Han victims of zero-Covid is worth noting. Of course, it follows years of silence about the internment and persecution of millions of Uyghurs.
— James Millward 米華健 (@JimMillward) November 26, 2022
4. Be aware of / reflect in reporting, the many parallels and connections between zero Covid policies and the on-going state mass repression of Uyghurs. They are connected in many ways.
Rhetorically: "Draconian measures necessary to absolutely exterminate a [thought] virus."
— James Millward 米華健 (@JimMillward) November 26, 2022
Corporate partners: zero Covid has created a group of special interest companies just as the camps and surveillance capitalism in Xinjiang has. Some are the same companies.
— James Millward 米華健 (@JimMillward) November 26, 2022
I.e. a situation where no one can or will question the crazy emperor, even when he's relentlessly pushing policies obviously hurting China?
— James Millward 米華健 (@JimMillward) November 26, 2022
Authorities in Xinjiang can get away with a lot more, because it's remote, journalists blocked, and sense of "frontier danger" justifies a range of abuses Beijingers or Shanghainese won't put up with.
— James Millward 米華健 (@JimMillward) November 26, 2022
Many in Xinjiang may remember the notorious 1994 Xinjiang Karamay fire which killed over 300 children, who had to remain seated while visiting officials were allowed to exit the burning building first (讓領導先走!) Children dying in a burning building has special resonance in XJ
— James Millward 米華健 (@JimMillward) November 26, 2022
Urumchi is not Zhengzhou. I lived there for several years, observing and interviewing around many protests. I want to add some overlooked background to #UrumqiProtest conversation. Many dominant voices on the subject have never been there. 🧵#Xinjiang #ZeroCovidChina #Uyghurs
— David Tobin (@ReasonablyRagin) November 26, 2022
2.
Bypassing experts guarantees ideological framings (“Chinese protest” & “civil society”), ignoring local dynamics where Han protestors often describe themselves as “vanguard” and Uyghurs died in a building fire under ethnically targeting and excessive covid controls.— David Tobin (@ReasonablyRagin) November 26, 2022
4.#Uyghurs are sharing videos of fire that may have killed many more than officially announced and images of Uyghur homes bolted shut from the outside. Some like @RayhanAsat have shared official announcements censoring discussion of the subject. https://t.co/G29r0lCtRC pic.twitter.com/Ub99gA2ii8
— David Tobin (@ReasonablyRagin) November 26, 2022
6.
Uyghurs are sharing multiple, yet-to-be confirmed videos of gunshots in Uyghur populated districts not heard in videos of Han protests. These must be investigated by reporters.
— David Tobin (@ReasonablyRagin) November 26, 2022
8.#UrumqiProtest has been sparked by strict #ZeroCOVIDpolicy lockdowns lasting more than 100 days. But Urumchi needs analysis on its own terms to understand who is allowed to protest in what ways and how the party-state will respond.
— David Tobin (@ReasonablyRagin) November 26, 2022
10.
Many Han in the city do not intend to stay permanently, moving there for work in precarious circumstances. This is why we see videos of traffic jams as Han leave the region by car. Everyone must apply for a permit (出疆申报) to be allowed to leave. https://t.co/oTKwbyITLk— David Tobin (@ReasonablyRagin) November 26, 2022
12.
For example, In September 2009, the People’s Armed Police only intervened with teargas against hundreds of Han protestors at Nanmen (Urumchi city centre) when they began to try to reach the Uyghur district chanting “kill the Uyghurs”.https://t.co/xYUJu7Hvk2
— David Tobin (@ReasonablyRagin) November 26, 2022
14.
Urumchi's Han residents are more accustomed to contact w/ military & police, aware their presence is to monitor Uyghurs. Partly explains why you hear people casually mention “it’s military police”. A tense standoff is fairly relaxed given the stakes. https://t.co/j25rmnSuiu
— David Tobin (@ReasonablyRagin) November 26, 2022
16.
There's no evidence that #UrumqiProtest is democracy movement or advocates greater rights for all. It’s a reflex action to be allowed outside in fear they may die. Many viral posts suggest fear not empathy for those who died or why.https://t.co/Trzwo6BoM7
— David Tobin (@ReasonablyRagin) November 26, 2022
Other scholars and observers offered views on the broader context of protest in China:
Since 1989, we've seen 5 main strands/repertoires of contention in China:
1) labour protest
2) rural protest
3) student protest
4) urban governance protest
5) systematic political dissentEach of these has usually been disaggregated locally and separated from the others.
2/22
— William Hurst (@wjhurst) November 27, 2022
Generalised political dissent is very rare in its expression, but we've seen it from time to time, as in the Charter 08 movement & other manifestations.
Usually repressed quickly and harshly, its impact has mostly been confined to a small set of cosmopolitan intellectuals.
8/22
— William Hurst (@wjhurst) November 27, 2022
What's happened in the past 24 hours is novel in that protesters have appeared on the streets in multiple cities with apparent knowledge of what is happening in other parts of the country. They're all mobilising around #Covid, but this is refracted through distinct lenses.
10/22
— William Hurst (@wjhurst) November 27, 2022
Finally, we've seen a few sensations incidents of generalised dissent (e.g. 四通桥), but in the past 24 hours crowds in at least one or two cities have appeared overtly calling for #XiJingping to leave office and for the #CCP to lose power.
12/22
— William Hurst (@wjhurst) November 27, 2022
By taking up slogans and frames of generalised dissent, as well as at least implicitly signally solidarity with workers' and students' mobilisation, these crowds are crossing a boundary and helping merge four of the five strands/repertoires outlined above.
14/22
— William Hurst (@wjhurst) November 27, 2022
What is also very interesting, though, is that the state response last night was not nearly as harsh, repressive, or even coordinated as we might have predicted.
16/22
— William Hurst (@wjhurst) November 27, 2022
But, if we assume no elite backers, the most likely scenario I can see is that the protests fizzle out (as most such movements do in most countries). Having erupted spontaneously in a short period, they will fade away without reaching any climax or denouement.
18/22
— William Hurst (@wjhurst) November 27, 2022
Either form of repression would be extremely costly for the state, however (both in fiscal and reputational terms). It would not be undertaken lightly, as it would also raise the stakes. It's thus a decidedly second-best option and not as likely as the protests fizzling.
20/22
— William Hurst (@wjhurst) November 27, 2022
If things fizzle – or even if the strands/repertoires become disentangled – all will return to the somewhat uneasy quotidian of a few weeks ago.
If not, this could prove a critical juncture. But not one that will be easy to read in real time or with a happy ending.
22/22 (END)
— William Hurst (@wjhurst) November 27, 2022
fire has been many Chinese people's worst fear since the spring of 2020, that is, since many people's homes are forced into periodic quarantine with metal bars and barriers
from the bus in Guizhou to the fire in Urumqi
the worst thing you can imagine happened and will happen pic.twitter.com/p1s9EmFutm— Chenchen Zhang 🤦🏻♀️ (@chenchenzh) November 25, 2022
The CCP has tended to tolerate *large* protests re: "livelihood" issues and to repress system-changing protests of *any* size. That's why protests re: #ZeroCovidChina are dangerous. Previously livelihood protests demand that gov't *do* something: restrain capital and corruption 2
— Mary Gallagher (@MaryGao) November 26, 2022
associated with the central government and with XI himself. It's easier for disparate protests across the country to unite behind a central mistake in policy rather than a local mistake in implementation. Already the demands are shifting, away from locals to the center.4/4
— Mary Gallagher (@MaryGao) November 26, 2022
Going against Covid lockdowns was one thing, but over the past couple of hours, the occasional use of explicitly anti-regime slogans in Shanghai and Urumqi may be pushing this into something else (that will trigger a qualitatively different response from the Party leadership).
— Taisu Zhang (@ZhangTaisu) November 26, 2022
What will happen next is the $$$ question. The CCP has only a few tried & true plays in their playbook. My guess is they will tolerate up to a point and then double down, reminiscent of their treatment of Hong Kong, in cold, merciless repression. https://t.co/ef5WfcHdGP
— Jiayang Fan (@JiayangFan) November 26, 2022
"Everyone should take primary responsibility for their health"
"Following the spread of Omicron, cases have spread across countries… In China, because we're united, China has the lowest case and death counts." pic.twitter.com/m6aK1Y7PKC
— Yuen Yuen Ang (@yuenyuenang) November 26, 2022
In short, no acknowledgement of unrest and no sign of loosening yet
— Yuen Yuen Ang (@yuenyuenang) November 27, 2022
Humility. Just when someone thinks he has become omnipotent, his people disagree and speak out loudly.
— Lynette Ong (@onglynette) November 26, 2022
Premature to say that this is a 1989 minute. In 1989 top leadership was divided about student demonstrations and that split was a preexisting condition. The thing to watch out for is whether a split may emerge. But that is a black box and we don’t have a clue.
— Yasheng Huang 黄亚生 (@YashengHuang) November 27, 2022
I am willing to make one prediction: the current situation is not a steady equilibrium. China can go more repressive, e.g. militaristic autocracy. Or government makes some concessions but this invites more demands. The latter is a Tocqueville moment feared by many autocrats.
— Yasheng Huang 黄亚生 (@YashengHuang) November 27, 2022
we do not know what revolutions or protests will look like in the 2020s
they may take an entirely different form, as David Graeber wrote
they may fragment, fail, get lost, and try again
social researchers can only make sense of the changes as they happen and learn from it pic.twitter.com/UTOP0BEfVc— Chenchen Zhang 🤦🏻♀️ (@chenchenzh) November 27, 2022
China Dissent Monitor has 79 such events in our database at https://t.co/VtUavwGxh4, most predating Nov. We're still adding more. There've been frequent street protests linked to pandemic controls for months, and the Urumqi incident is enlarging that wave.https://t.co/aPkptg1h9i
— Kevin Slaten (@KevinSlaten) November 27, 2022
authorities. On the campus of Qinghua University, university administration (Guo Yong) and students have agreed to convene a campus-wide discussion of how to best conduct epidemic prevention. Many campuses are arranging for their students to go home.
— Dali L. Yang (@Dali_Yang) November 27, 2022
Yesterday, prompted by a deadly fire in a locked-down high-rise building in Urumqi, Xinjiang, protests against Covid-19 pandemic restrictions erupted across China. To put these events into context, here is a thread of articles on different aspects of the pandemic in China. 1/
— Made in China Journal (@MIC_Journal) November 27, 2022
There’s a lesson in these protests about the dangers of centralization:the main reason why Chinese protests post-1989 and pre-2019 were local in nature (and therefore less threatening to the government) was that policymaking was also largely decentralized. There was no… 1
— Taisu Zhang (@ZhangTaisu) November 27, 2022
… the state’s political popularity since the economic boom days (as recently as this January, Chinese social media was almost entirely pro-government, and not just because of censorship), but once it began to malfunction, well… what you’re seeing now is the outcome. … 3
— Taisu Zhang (@ZhangTaisu) November 27, 2022
… anymore, at least not as a matter of central level political discourse. That, more than the protests, and even more than whatever damage zero-Covid will do/has already done, is the main reason to worry about the country’s long term socioeconomic prospects. 5
— Taisu Zhang (@ZhangTaisu) November 27, 2022
There is a rational way to get out of this. Ease the controls which are so damaging economically and untenable in any case. Use formidable administrative tools China has to vaccinate elderly with vaccines of high efficacy. Call it a whole process democracy and declare victory.
— Yasheng Huang 黄亚生 (@YashengHuang) November 27, 2022
Beyond its role in hosting reporting and commentary for global audiences, Twitter also acted as a conduit for suppressed information to be reposted to Twitter’s tightly controlled Chinese counterparts, aiding the survival and distribution of content about the protests:
One good thing this site actually facilitates: in the past 48 hrs, numerous mini-protests took place across various Chinese college campus against zero COVID policy. Many are censored but they ended up on Twitter, then ppl get to smuggle them back behind GFW, even just briefly pic.twitter.com/dvew9r5dik
— Tony Lin 林東尼 (@tony_zy) November 26, 2022
Weibo/WeChat —> Twitter —> Weibo again: pic.twitter.com/i3dZvA5pFj
— Tony Lin 林東尼 (@tony_zy) November 26, 2022
There were signs of efforts to undermine this role, however:
Chinese bots are flooding Twitter with *escort ads*, possibly to make it more difficult for Chinese users to access information about the mass protests. Some of these acts have been dormant for years, only to become active yesterday after protests broke out in China. for example: pic.twitter.com/QRYLQu09Pq
— Mengyu Dong (@dong_mengyu) November 27, 2022
search the name of any major 🇨🇳city in Chinese: 北京 上海 南京 郑州 兰州 etc and you’ll see thousands of nsfw escort ads. While similar ads exist for years, they weren’t being shared with the same frequency as seen in the last 24h since mass protests broke out. see also: https://t.co/xJzYEO1jHf
— Mengyu Dong (@dong_mengyu) November 27, 2022
sadly if a Chinese person decides to come to Twitter to find out what happened in China last night, these nsfw posts shared by bots are likely the first to show up in their search results.
— Mengyu Dong (@dong_mengyu) November 27, 2022
another example: @ElvaZechariah joined Twitter in March, and sent only 4 tweets before yesterday… pic.twitter.com/d5JEB0IJR1
— Mengyu Dong (@dong_mengyu) November 27, 2022
Happening on Twitter at the moment at a time of unrest/protests taking place in various places across China. When trying to find the latest posts on situations in various places (in Chinese), you get endless streams of nonsense ads preventing quick access to actual information. pic.twitter.com/eJ4tkhVbWd
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) November 27, 2022
Just wrote about Chinese accounts spamming city names in a suspected attempt to keep citizens from learning about the historic protests. An outgunned Twitter staff fought back. https://t.co/OdwqL8qne5
— Joseph Menn (@josephmenn) November 28, 2022
Thread: Search for Beijing/Shanghai/other cities in Chinese on Twitter and you'll mostly see ads for escorts/porn/gambling, drowning out legitimate search results.
Data analysis in this thread suggests that there has been a *significant* uptick in these spam tweets. pic.twitter.com/Ao46g2ILzf— Air-Moving Device (@AirMovingDevice) November 28, 2022
It is unclear to what extent Twitter currently has the capacity to address this kind of apparent interference on top of other reported manipulation attempts and the traffic burden of the ongoing World Cup. The company now has a fraction of its former staff of around 7,500 following mass layoffs and resignations, which hit its content, human rights, and security teams especially hard.
so is a walrus but if you cut off 80% of it you don’t get a skinny walrus
— Benjamin Lowe | Mastodon: @benjaminlowe@mas.to (@benjaminlowe) November 17, 2022
Vast quantities have been written about the likely effects of these cutbacks and other idiosyncratic management decisions in recent weeks, but former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos succinctly described the dangers to Semafor’s Reed Albergotti last Friday:
Eventually, there will be an issue that has to be addressed by SREs [site reliability engineer] or it will cause a cascading failure. Question will be if the right team exists at that point to stop the cascade. The other issue is that there is basically no security team left. So, it isn’t clear whether bug bounty reports are being addressed and if anybody is looking at alerts and investigating for breaches.
Twitter was never going to just fail. The problem is that Elon is now running much higher risks, with a team formed of the people who couldn’t afford to quit. One of my big worries is that the team that stopped government influence ops is decimated. It’s pretty much open season on Twitter for Iran, China, Russia, and anybody else who wants to run large networks of fake accounts to manipulate opinion. [Source]
