This is unadulterated censorship, without a sugar coating. While the title implies the Chinese government is doing this, there is no proof. The problem is ‘if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it’s probably China’. Oops, I meant it’s probably a duck.
Cyber War: China Hacks Into Twitter and Censors it Ahead of Chinese Communist Election
by Rebecca McCartney
Cyber War China Hacks Into Twitter and Censors it Ahead of Chinese Communist Election
On Thursday in China, 2270 delegates gathered for the 18th Chinese Communist Party National Congress in Bejing’s imposing Great Hall of the People to decide the party’s next political leadership. In what can only be described as another incident of intrusive censorship, many commentators of this once-in-a-decade event reported that their Twitter accounts had been hacked while others experienced problems with their internet connection.
Early this morning, Twitter sent out e-mails to an unknown number of users warning that their accounts “may have been compromised by a website or service not associated with Twitter.” While many of these individuals are known to have been on the Chinese mainland, others outside of China are also believed to have received the message. One Twitter user reported knowing four French users that got the message. It is a very worrying international concern that “someone” is trying to control the conversation about the congress.
Affected users include Tsinghua University professor Patrick Chovanec, the China Media Project , Christina Larson, Mara Hvistendahl, OffbeatChina, amongst other journalists and analysts; all of which are notable voices within the China-related Twitter-verse.
Read the rest at Cyber War: China Hacks Into Twitter and Censors it Ahead of Chinese Communist Election.
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Filed under: Information operations Tagged: Beijing, China, China Media Project, Communist China, Great Hall of the People, Patrick Chovanec, Tsinghua University, Twitter
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