The Chinese government is monitoring social media users like WeChat and Twitter when they spread negative news related to the coronavirus. According to Vice , the country's residents' protest against the government is often done through social media platforms.
Regarding the spread of the Coronavirus, approximately 2,699 people have so far died, while more than 80,000 have been infected.
Online protests against the Chinese government have reportedly intensified following the death of Li Wenliang, who was the first person to warn about the coronavirus. Following his death, a huge number of users started using the hashtag “I want freedom of speech” on the Chinese social networking platform Weibo. About 2 million posts were posted using the hashtag, which the Chinese government quickly removed from the platform .
As Vice reports, the Chinese government is also targeting individuals who have a lot of influence in spreading information about the coronavirus. One Chinese man said he tried to share information about the virus via WeChat with his family in China while he was in California. The Chinese government tried to track his exact location in California by harassing his friends, and he received a warning message that someone from Shanghai had tried to access his WeChat account.
Another man from China said that government officials visited his home in Dongguan after they spotted his response to a sensitive tweet about the Chinese government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. The officials told him that the post was a direct attack on the Chinese government. They then confiscated phone and made him sign a sworn statement that he would not repeat the action.
