Following in the Footsteps of the US , China has suspended social media accounts of Covid policy critics

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Beijing , China has followed the US example and suspended or closed the social media accounts of more than 1,000 critics of the government’s policies on the COVID-19 outbreak.

The popular Sina Weibo social media platform said it had addressed 12,854 violations including attacks on experts, scholars and medical workers and issued temporary or permanent bans on 1,120 accounts. The company “will continue to increase the investigation and cleanup of all kinds of illegal content, and create a harmonious and friendly community environment for the majority of users,” Sina Weibo said in a statement dated Thursday.

The ruling Communist Party had largely relied on the “medical community” to justify its harsh lockdowns, quarantine measures and mass testing, almost all of which it abruptly abandoned last month, after street protests in Beijing and other cities  put pressure on the central government. Like the US  the Communist party allows no direct criticism and imposes strict limits on free speech.

The Chinese government appears to have lost control of the situation and the World Health Organization has also expressed concern about the lack of data from China, while the U.S. is requiring a negative test result for travelers from China within 48 hours of departure. The social and economic costs of the lockdowns are eating away at Chinas once growing economy.