China's Government Deletes 1.4 Million Social Media Posts

The Chinese government announced the deletion of 1.4 million social media posts by users in the country following the conclusion of a two-month investigation into issues such as the spread of misinformation, illegal profiteering, and impersonation of government officials. The Cyberspace Administration of China stated in a press release on Friday that between March 10 and 22 of this year, as part of a campaign called 'Correction,' it deleted 67,000 social media user accounts and hundreds of thousands of posts on these platforms. In addition to the 67,000 deleted accounts, approximately 930,000 other accounts faced lesser penalties, such as the removal of all followers or deprivation of financial benefits. This extensive government crackdown targeted user accounts on applications such as WeChat, Douyin, and Weibo, which are not operated by the Chinese government. Since 2021, China has aimed to 'cleanse' the cyberspace and facilitate government control over it, targeting billions of social media user accounts in its campaigns. Beijing frequently detains citizens and censors accounts of users who publish information deemed sensitive or critical of the Communist Party, government, or military. These actions have drawn criticism from global free speech advocacy organizations.