Demonstrations have flared up in Beijing and other cities over the past three days in response to China’s “zero COVID” policies, but it’s impossible to see anything on Twitter.
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Spam makes rallies difficult to follow, especially for local activists who use Twitter via a VPN to avoid the Chinese government censoring protests on local social networks.
Twitter has effectively dissolved its communications team and has not officially commented on the matter. However, The Washington Post noted that a company employee told a researcher that the company was “working to fix” the bot issue. It was easier to find news about the protests until late on Sunday, but spam still mixed results.
A former employee told The Post that government-affiliated company accounts had previously spammed in bulk, but often to attack individual accounts or small groups. Protests escalated after a deadly fire broke out in an apartment in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province.
Critics have accused the Chinese government’s strict COVID-19 lockdown measures of delaying firefighters and otherwise contributing to deaths. Working conditions at a Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou have also sparked protests, including concerns about inadequate COVID safety measures.
