2026-10-31
On October 31, rapper Pharaoh released his new album 'A Young Person's Life'. Netizens interpreted the first characters of the lyrics in the song 'October' as a homophonic reference to 'Long Live the Cultural Revolution'. Pharaoh responded that he had no such intention and it was purely a coincidence. To avoid a negative listening experience, he muted the relevant lyrics; in the latest screenshot of the lyrics, '革职掉玉帝' (Dismiss the Jade Emperor) has been replaced with asterisks.
2026-10-30
On October 30, Havana continued to post on X, using German Nazi history to warn against extreme nationalism and criticizing the use of "patriotism" as a requirement to conduct political censorship on others as the beginning of anti-democracy.
2026-10-30
On October 30, a netizen posted that after sharing a photo on WeChat Moments of a "Bushuila" drink featuring a portrait of Kylian Mbappé, all social functions of their account were temporarily restricted four minutes later.
2026-10-30
On October 30, The Diplomat published a commentary noting that after Kylian Mbappé referred to Mao Zedong as a dictator, he, Real Madrid, and La Liga issued successive apologies. This demonstrates that commercial pressure from the Chinese market is constraining overseas speech, and companies may be proactively enforcing political boundaries.
2026-10-29
Recently, the comments section for a post on the Dongqiudi app titled "Ballon d'Or 17th Place: Vinícius" was closed. Netizens explained that this was due to the two characters "Winnie" (Vinícius's nickname in Chinese), with some lamenting that even cartoons cannot be mentioned now.
2026-10-29
On October 29, the official website of the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music published an article introducing the theme class meetings held from September to October. The former Drama Department incorporated online speech and conduct into disciplinary education, covering all 16 classes, with complete records and photos of the class meetings archived.
2026-10-28
After the controversy over Mbappé's remarks, a netizen posted on WeChat Moments a photo of a "Hydrate" drink printed with Mbappé's face along with a doctored image captioned "Party enemy Mbappé," with the caption "has become a swan song." After the post went up, friends could not see it; 22 minutes later the user reposted a screenshot, and it was blocked again more than two hours later.
2026-10-28
On October 28, the Weibo topic "Mbappe's apology not posted on his 135 million follower IG" reached the top 4 on the trending list. Netizens joked that Instagram is banned in China, so even if he had posted it, no one would see it.
2026-10-27
On October 27, a Chinese netizen posted on X, using Mbappé's joke about the Chinese leader as an example to ask whether one could also joke about Napoleon; a foreign netizen left a highly upvoted reply in the comments saying that anyone can be joked about, and that this is called freedom of speech.
2026-10-19
On October 19, a Douyin user posted a video claiming that privileged groups instill hatred internally and tamper with or block historical information in the name of the state, while smearing other countries and engaging in an arms race externally. Netizens in the comments section called for the overthrow of these privileged groups.
2026-10-18
On October 18, a Douyin blogger posted a video saying that no big shot can easily deprive tens of millions of people of their lives without paying a price, and that after death one may not necessarily be laid to rest in peace, citing Stalin as an example. He then said the story had nothing to do with him and asked viewers not to take it seriously.
2026-10-17
On October 17, a Douyin account sharing civil service exam prep materials posted a “daily practice question.” Netizens collectively flooded the comments with wrong answers such as “all power of the country belongs to the government” and “the highest organ of state power is the state president.” The video received 19,000 shares in total, while the comment section showed 0 comments.
2026-10-14
On October 14, Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Chen Binhua responded to Kevin Tsai's attendance at Puma Shen's campaign event, saying that it respects and safeguards Taiwan compatriots' "legitimate" freedom of speech, but warned that no one can cash in on mainland dividends while colluding with "Taiwan independence" and being "two-faced."
2026-10-09
On October 9, some netizens said that when they filled in “Chapman To” as the delivery contact name on Meituan, the page prompted that the “name contains non-compliant content,” while the same name worked normally on Meituan Shangou, and the comment section questioned whether the platform was carrying out political censorship.
2026-10-07
On October 7, Chapman To recalled on Facebook his experience of being blacklisted in 2014 for supporting the Sunflower Movement, saying that over the past 12 years he has never gone without a meal — now he wears a Patek Philippe, drives a Porsche 911 to buy groceries, and calls out “Long live freedom.”
2026-10-05
In an interview, Shen Bo said that it is perfectly normal in a democratic society for Kevin Tsai to want to hear different voices, and added that if he had the opportunity to be interviewed exclusively by Kevin Tsai, he would be very willing to do so.
2026-10-05
On October 5, a TikTok blogger uploaded a number meme video; after comments that appeared to allude to 64 showed up in the comment section, it was blocked, and neither the video nor the account could be searched.
2026-10-05
Recently, multiple netizens discovered that when using a photo of Tiananmen with Douyin's "one-click video" feature, the system blocked it, prompting "The selected image does not meet the requirements, try another one."
2026-10-02
On October 2, Taiwanese singer Hebe Tien said "you have to be very careful what you say now" during a livestream promoting her new album Where to Go, lamenting that it is "so painful."
2026-10
On the eve of National Day, TF Family trainee Yang Bowen posted a video of cycling to Tiananmen to see the red flag, and the video was subsequently deleted.
2026-09-25
During on-site reporting, the reporter was obstructed by suspected CCP personnel, including having their camera lens blocked by umbrellas, being physically blocked from filming, and even receiving threatening gestures. The reporter felt threatened.
2026-09-15
On September 15, a video circulating from Beijing at night showed multiple barricades set up around Tiananmen Square, with plainclothes and uniformed guards, police cars, armed police, and fire trucks on the scene. Online reports indicated that Chang'an Avenue was temporarily under traffic control, with restricted access for personnel in some areas. While relevant footage and information about the controls spread online, there has been no further official explanation regarding the specific cause, duration, or handling of the situation.
2026-09-13
Footage of Xi Jinping returning to Beijing from India shows him descending the aircraft stairs with his body leaning to the left, his left arm hanging naturally without swinging, only his right arm swinging and waving, and walking slowly and with difficulty. The footage has circulated online and is being cited as one of the grounds for discussion about his health.
2026-09-09
On September 9, when the word 'nikah' was entered into the iTerjiman translation software, a warning page popped up and an alarm played, stating that translation was prohibited and noting legal liabilities.
2026-09-07
The Economist published an article analyzing the current state of speech censorship in China, pointing out that articles discussing the boundaries of expression are being deleted, society has fallen into a state of high self-censorship, and the CCP is using this to consolidate control.
2026-09-07
After The Economist published an article on September 7, 2026 pointing out that China's speech environment has fallen into a deep freeze, this article exploring cultural censorship and the boundaries of expression was deleted across the entire Chinese internet.
2026-09
Silicon Valley attorney Zhu says his WeChat account, which he had used for more than 10 years, was permanently banned, with the platform citing reports against it and multiple violations as the reason.
2026-09
Rumors online claim that Ren Zhengfei and Meng Wanzhou fled the country by sea. The news has been out for six or seven days, yet neither Ren Zhengfei nor Meng Wanzhou has appeared in public, and Huawei has not issued a denial, sparking speculation outside the company.
2026-08
In August 2026, it was reported online that a netizen, after searching on Douyin for phrases containing the word "poison," received a call from local police officers asking whether they were involved with drugs and was asked to go to the police station to cooperate in making a statement.
2026-07-02
Lam Wing-kee, founder of Hong Kong's Causeway Bay Books, passed away in Taiwan on July 2 due to cancer at the age of 70. Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te posted a tribute, praising his witness to the value of freedom of speech.
2026-07
At a book fair in Hangzhou, a member of the public openly said that a book of Xi Jinping's quotations was only fit for use as toilet paper, and was subsequently taken away by security guards.
2026-06
When sharing overseas about shaking hands with Xi Jinping, KMT Chairperson Cheng Li-wun described his hands as "soft as clouds." The related remarks and the word "clouds" were subsequently thoroughly scrubbed (404ed) across the mainland Chinese internet.
2026-05
The Temple of Heaven Park management office issued a notice announcing that the park would be closed from May 13 to 14, but gave no reason; the program said that security personnel and vehicles had already increased at the park beforehand.
2026-04
In an interview on the French web show The Bridge (hosted by his Real Madrid teammate Tchouaméni), Mbappé was asked about the funniest meme of himself. He said it was the one where someone put his face onto a photo of “a Chinese dictator,” adding that he often sends it to friends while playing video games. The show later edited in a composite image of him and Mao Zedong. Multiple media outlets report that the interview was recorded in April this year, and clips spread on platforms such as Reddit and X starting October 26.
2026-03-31
Taiwan's Shilin District Court issued a ruling in the case in which Wang Zhian sued Hu Zhongxin, accusing him of being CCP overseas propaganda and a double agent. The judge dismissed all of Wang Zhian's claims, finding that the statements in question constituted opinion expression and political commentary based on facts, and were protected by freedom of speech.
2024-07-30
In late July 2024, Lao Dongyan, a professor at Tsinghua University's Law School, published an article openly questioning the network number and network certificate system that the Ministry of Public Security and the Cyberspace Administration of China plan to introduce, arguing that it is essentially the normalization of Health Kit surveillance. The article was swiftly wiped out across the entire internet.
2021-08-04
Voice of the Strait published a post stating that Taiwanese people live in a different environment, so their everyday vocabulary cannot be required to be identical to that of mainland China, and said that Little S's use of the term "national player" is perfectly normal in Taiwan.
2021-06-09
On June 9, 2021, Biden signed an executive order revoking Trump’s bans on WeChat and TikTok, instead directing the Commerce Department to conduct security reviews of related Chinese apps.
2020-08-06
On August 6, 2020, Trump signed an executive order banning U.S. companies and individuals from engaging in WeChat-related transactions with Tencent 45 days later.
2004-09-13
Yitaohutu Forum, one of China's largest campus forums, was shut down by Peking University because it was flooded with political commentary and active discussions about the Sun Zhigang case.
1999-01-20
Shanghai software engineer Lin Hai was sentenced to two years in prison for providing 30,000 collected Chinese email addresses to the overseas anti-communist digital journal "VIP Reference," becoming the first person in China to be imprisoned for internet-related activities.