Cyber Stewards Network Partner Tibet Action Institute has released a report titled “Erasing Tibet: Censorship on Chinese Video Sharing Site Youku,” which documents censorship on Youku, as well as the broader trend of China-based social media platforms being required to follow regulations on content filtering. Careful testing revealed that video content related to Tibetan culture and the Dalai Lama were blocked, including content that made use of the Tibetan language.
Lobsang Gyatso Sither, who conducted the research with the support of the Citizen Lab, explained that the report was part of an effort to give Tibetans the tools to express their opinions, despite systematic censorship efforts against the community.