Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: STR / AFP
A publication from the American Embassy in China on the protection of giraffes in Namibia allowed many Chinese Internet users to express their dissatisfaction with the economic situation in their country. As the post was not written by an institution controlled by Beijing, the censorship of the comments proved less drastic.
A wave of criticism triggered quite unintentionally by the American embassy in China. A publication, on the Chinese social network Weibo (equivalent to X), on the protection of giraffes in Namibia, allowed Chinese Internet users to express their concerns about the economic situation in their country.
Giraffe incident on Weibo (microblog):
Under a microblog posted by the US Embassy in China, thousands of comments asked to help Chinese investors because the stock market has fallen for a really long time.
The microblog is just talking about protecting giraffe.1/2 #China#stockpic.twitter.com/zGYQbV2PEr— Vince Ye (@VinceYe6) February 4, 2024
This Monday, as reported by Guardian, the American embassy post had received more than 166,000 comments, which therefore had nothing to do with the preservation of African wildlife. They focused more on the difficulties of the Chinese stock market, underlines Bloomberg, which also notes the post of an Internet user claiming that “anger” had reached “an extreme level”. It must be said that the CSI 300 index, which tracks the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, has reached its lowest level in five years.
Slightly less censored comments
If this post generated such an outlet, it is precisely because it came from the American embassy in China and not from a government organization led by Beijing. In this case, the comments are slightly less censored than those written under state agencies which take care to delete comments that exceed the red lines set by the government.
Certain negative comments, published under the American embassy’s post, are still visible, although interspersed with publications glorifying Beijing, such as “I love China”. As recalled by Guardiansome Chinese influencers received a warning last December against making public comments that could “denigrate the economy.” A sector which is struggling to regain momentum in China since the lifting of the drastic restrictions imposed on the population to counter the Covid-19 pandemic. This is why the authorities are increasing their vigilance over comments published on social networks.