Members of several LGBT groups told Reuters that they later
discovered that access to their accounts was blocked late Tuesday and all
content was removed.
“Many of us were suffering at the same time,” said one group
of account managers who refused to be identified because of the sensitivity of
the problem.
“They censored us without warning. All of us were wiped
out.”
When Reuters tried to access some of its accounts, WeChat
notified us that the group “violated regulations regarding the management of
accounts that provide public information services on the Internet in China.”
Other accounts did not appear in the search results.
WeChat didn’t immediately respond to the question sent by
email.
Homosexuality, which was classified as a mental illness
until 2001, is legal in China, but same-sex marriage is not permitted. Social
stigma and pressure still discourage people from coming out.
This year, the court upheld the university’s description of
homosexuality as a “mental disorder” and ruled that it was not a de facto
mistake.
The LGBT community has repeatedly found it against
censorship, and China’s Cyberspace Administration recently promised to clean up
the Internet to protect minors and crack down on social media groups that are
considered “bad”. ..
Weibo Social Media Platform, owned by Weibo Corp, may remove
lesbian content, and online community board platform Zhihu has censored topics
on gender and identity.
Last year, China’s only pride festival was canceled
indefinitely after the organizers expressed concern about staff safety.
“Authorities are narrowing the space available to LGBT
advocates and civil society in general. Darius Longarino, Senior Fellow of Paul
Tsai’s China Center at Yale Law School, which focuses on LGBT rights and gender
equality, said. , States as follows.