Million-word novel gets censored even before publication, Chinese censorship draws ire

Beijing: Imagine you have been painstakingly writing your book for years - the one you believe will finally make you and acknowledged author and you have almost reached the finishing line, and suddenly poof! The online word processing software tells the user that he/she cannot open the draft because it apparently contains illegal information. Years of painful research, gone in an instant. And something exactly the same happened to a Chinese novelist in June, who writes under the alias Mitu.

As per a report by technologyreview.com, Mitu had been working with WPS, a domestic version of a cloud-based word processing software akin to Google Docs when this happened. The woman took to Chinese literature forum Lkong on 25 June and accused WPS of spying on and locking her draft citing illegal content.

The news subsequently blew up on Weibo with users inquiring whether WPS is infringing on their privacy. What has happened is that Mitu's complaint has triggered a social media discussion in China that ranges from censorship to tech platform responsibility, highlighting the tension between Chinese users becoming increasingly aware of privacy and the tech company's obligation towards censoring material on behalf of the Chinese government.

The Economic Observer has also reported that several online novelists apart from Mitu have also had their drafts locked in the past for unknown reasons. They reported that during the first quarter of 2022, WPS has 25.37 million paying users and at the end of 2021 the number of WPS mobile monthly users had reached 321 million. That is a lot of users and potentially a huge number of censorship.

In an interaction with technologyreview.com, Tom Nunlist, an analyst on China’s cyber and data policy at the Beijing-based research group Trivium China revealed that there could be a collision between user awareness and tech company censorship in China.

Mitu, on her part questions the move stating that she had been the only person editing it when it got locked, questioning WPS' decision to look into users' private documents and arbitrarily decide on a course of action with them.

Following the complaint, the firm has released two statements. It has clarified that the software does not censor locally stored files, but the company has remained vague about what it does to files shared online, stating, “All platforms that provide online information services are responsible for reviewing the content that’s being spread on their platforms," citing China's Cybersecurity Law.

As per a report by Android Police, while WPS itself has not confirmed whether the act of sharing prompts reviews, a comment on WPS' customer service seems to confirm the hypothesis stating that creating a sharing link does indeed trigger review mechanism.

The report added that concerned Chinese citizens are now demanding clarification from WPS, but their voices are largely remaining unheard as the censorship is interwoven with local regulations.

With inputs from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.