China’s social media site Sina Weibo is removing gay and violent content during a three-month clean-up campaign.
China’s social media site Sina Weibo is removing gay and violent content during a three-month clean-up campaign.
The platform announced the news on Friday (April 13) on its official administrator’s account, explaining that content being taken down includes pictures, cartoons and text.
As a result, #IAmGay is trending in the country, as some 170,000 users protest the decision. The announcement has been commented on more than 24,000 times and was forwarded more than 110,000 times.
One wrote: “I am gay and I’m proud, even if I get taken down there are tens of millions like me!” Some posts were blocked by Weibo, with a message saying that they contained “illegal content”.
Weibo said the move aims to comply with China’s new cyber security law calling for strict data surveillance.
