“WeChat reportedly censors messages about coronavirus even when they’re true”, 4 March 2020

… Behind the Great Firewall, internet users said they suddenly saw their WeChat accounts suspended for “spreading rumors,” if they were given a reason at all. Now a new report is giving us a glimpse into how China’s most popular messaging app might be blocking online chats about the new coronavirus epidemic…

The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab created three new WeChat accounts -- two in Canada and one in China -- to test if any keywords were being banned. Researchers used one Canadian account to send out chats with words taken from news stories. They then checked to see if any of the messages reached the other Canadian account but not the Chinese one.

The Citizen Lab also looked into YY, a live-streaming platform that has a keyword blacklist built into the app to filter text chats. This is in contrast to WeChat, which performs censorship on a remote server.

In response to our inquiry, WeChat’s owner Tencent says, “Our operations in China are guided by local laws and regulations related to internet content, and like other companies, we comply with regulations, laws and legal requests in all countries and markets where we operate.”

The company added that since the coronavirus outbreak, it has launched new tools to combat online misinformation. It says it’s in the company’s interest to “ensure people in China and around the world have access to reliable information on the coronavirus.”

JOYY, the owner of YY, did not respond to our request for comment…