The war in Ukraine is keeping Chinese social media censors busy

The artillery fire breaks my heart. I hope my friends in Ukraine are taking care of themselves and their families, said a user on Weibo on February 27. The message was quickly blocked, according to Free Weibo, a service of Great Fire, which tracks Chinese censorship online.

There was a different message on Weibo two days later. According to Free Weibo, America and Taiwan have gone too far.

The messages—and their quick disappearance—show how Chinese social media platforms find themselves in the crosshairs of the Russia-Ukraine war. The platforms must be sure to toe the official line amid subtle shifts in China’s position. Their responses could be an early test of new rules governing how companies use algorithms, which may make them responsible for trending topics and fake news appearing on their sites.

According to Yuqi Na, a researcher in media and communications at the University of Westminster, Chinese online platforms receive daily guidance from the government about what to remove.

There was a hint of how that works in the days leading up to the invasion. On February 22, a Chinese outlet called Horizon News briefly posted what appeared to be internal instructions for how to spin the Ukraine crisis on its official Weibo account. Do not post anything that is unfavorable to Russia or pro-Western.