Free Expression Online
Studies of Internet filtering, network interference, and other technologies and practices that impact freedom of expression online.
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Latest Research
Censored Commemoration: Chinese Live Streaming Platform YY Focuses Censorship on June 4 Memorials and Activism in Hong Kong
In the days leading up to the 30th anniversary of June 4 1989, YY, a popular live streaming platform in mainland China, updated its keyword blacklists with content focused on Democracy Movement related memorials and activism in Hong Kong.
Iranian Censorship Strategy Shows Increasing Political Sophistication, Research Reveals
Published by the Review of Policy Research, this paper by the Citizen Lab’s Ron Deibert, Joshua Oliver, and Adam Senft takes a deep dive into data provided by the circumvention tool Psiphon to reveal Iran’s increasingly sophisticated Internet blocking strategy around elections.
An analysis of censorship in Chinese open source projects
A new paper by the Citizen Lab investigates how Chinese censorship reaches independent developers and reveals that, while developers include censorship lists in open source projects, there is little apparent similarity in these blacklists, raising several questions about their origins.
(Can’t) Picture This: An Analysis of Image Filtering on WeChat Moments
This report demonstrates the technical underpinnings of how WeChat image censorship operates and suggests possible evasion strategies.