Chinese Netizens Increasingly Use Overseas Social Media to Expose Incidents Censored by the CCP

Chinese internet users are increasingly turning to social media platforms outside China to document violent attacks and public disturbances that are quickly censored by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) strict online censorship regime, according to observers who spoke to The Epoch Times.Posts shared on X and Telegram in recent days have shown scenes ranging from alleged car-ramming attacks and economic hardships to controversial deaths involving local officials. In many cases, videos were widely circulated on those platforms after being censored on Chinese social media.Censorship Pushes Information OverseasOne Chinese emigrant told The Epoch Times that the growing migration of information to non-Chinese platforms indicates both growing public frustration and the limits of Beijing’s censorship.“[The regime] keeps deleting posts and banning accounts, but more people are now sending information directly overseas,” said Wang Zhouxiang, a retired expat living in Europe.The phenomenon became particularly evident after China’s May Day holiday, as a surge of videos capturing public disturbances started appearing on X and Telegram.One of the most widely circulated incidents occurred on May 3 in Zhejiang Province. Videos posted online show multiple people lying on the ground after a vehicle struck pedestrians. The authorities have not issued a public statement, and the topic appears to have been censored on Chinese social media.Wang said that many Chinese netizens have developed ways to bypass censorship by sharing information with overseas independent content creators who are not controlled by the CCP.Signs of economic stress and emotional strain have also surfaced in viral videos unrelated to violence.On the same day as the Zhejiang incident, another video from Sichuan Province circulated widely on X. It shows a rural Chinese migrant worker sitting on the street, breaking down in tears, and repeatedly saying, “I really have no money, not a single cent left.”Another video, filmed in Jiangsu Province, shows a young man dressed as Zhang Jue—the leader of the ancient Yellow Turban Rebellion, a massive peasant uprising against the Eastern Han Dynasty, fueled by famine, high taxes, and corruption—shouting slogans associated with rebellion and dynastic collapse.The performance drew attention online, in part because the slogans referenced social unrest and political upheaval in Chinese history. Content that is open to interpretation is also routinely censored in China.Economic Pressures Fuel Online AngerA Chinese scholar, speaking to The Epoch Times on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said that many young people in China are struggling to find work, while unemployment among middle-aged workers has become increasingly severe, even though state media attempt to downplay the situation with limited coverage of the topic.“When people share these videos online, they are often venting their dissatisfaction,” the scholar said. “But those emotions are not allowed to be expressed publicly. If people suppress anger for too long, problems eventually emerge.”He said tighter censorship may actually heighten public interest in such sensitive incidents.“The more information is blocked, the more people want to share it,” the scholar said.Another case that gained attention online involved the death of a 15-year-old girl in Chengdu city, Sichuan Province.On May 5, posts circulating on X claim that the teenager had been forced to accompany regime officials to an event arranged by a school principal, after which she was allegedly drugged and sexually abused before falling to her death from a 34-story building.Chat logs, videos, and online allegations related to the case spread rapidly on X, while searches for the incident returned no results on Chinese social media.An online activist in China, who also spoke to The Epoch Times on condition of anonymity, said the CCP has intensified censorship in recent years, including deleting accounts, tightening VPN restrictions, and expanding controls over online discussion.“Anything that could trigger public anger, panic, or discussion about reality is removed quickly,” he said.Protesters hold up a white sheet of paper to protest censorship as they march during a protest against the Chinese regime’s strict zero-COVID measures, in Beijing on Nov. 27, 2022. Getty Images/Kevin FrayerThe activist said the regime is also wary of the resurgence of protests similar to the 2022 “White Paper” Movement, which erupted against the CCP’s draconian COVID-19 lockdowns.According to the activist, many Chinese netizens and online activists post videos on X and Telegram channels to tell the world what is really happening in China.Meanwhile, the CCP is intensifying its clampdown on everyday netizens using VPNs to bypass the regime’s internet censors.Chen Chen contributed to this report.