As a follow-up to our March 2020 report, we conducted daily tests on WeChat and collected 2,174 censored keywords between January to May 2020. This data provides a view into how narratives and messaging on the pandemic are controlled and molded on social media in China.
How do events on the ground impact information control online? The Internet has amplified citizens’ communication, allowing them to organize and mobilize for political or social causes. Major sporting events have been used to introduce security measures and justify surveillance capabilities that often have a lasting legacy in the countries or regions where this happens.
公民实验室2020年5月7日发布报告指出，中国最流行的社交媒体软件微信是对平台上的文档和图像内容实施监控，并使用监控所得的数据训练其审查系统。本文是对该报告的概述，以及与研究团队的一些常见问答。
公民實驗室2020年5月7日發布報告指出，中國最流行的社交媒體軟件微信是對平台上的文檔和圖像內容實施監控，並使用監控所得的數據訓練其審查系統。本文是對該報告的概述，以及與研究團隊的一些常見問答。
On May 7 2020, the Citizen Lab published a report that documents how WeChat (the most popular social app in China) conducts surveillance of images and files shared on the platform and uses the monitored content to train censorship algorithms. This document provides a summary of the research findings and questions and answers from the research team.
WeChat communications conducted entirely among non-China-registered accounts are subject to pervasive content surveillance that was previously thought to be exclusively reserved for China-registered accounts.
The analysis of YY and WeChat indicates broad censorship—blocking sensitive terms as well as general information and neutral references—potentially limiting the public’s ability to access information that may be essential to their health and safety.
CLSI brings together academics, researchers, activists, and frontline workers and asks them to address some of the most pressing issues at the intersection of digital security and human rights.
本报告延续上一篇针对微信朋友圈图片过滤技术的研究，分析微信如何在聊天功能中实现实时图片过滤。微信是中国腾讯控股有限公司旗下的即时通讯应用，目前是中国最受欢迎的聊天软件之一，也是全球排名第四的最流行聊天软件。朋友圈是微信上最常用的功能之一，其中图片是用户最期望看到的内容分享形式。
In this work, we study how Tencent implements image filtering on WeChat. We found that Tencent implements realtime, automatic censorship of chat images on WeChat based on what text is in an image and based on an image’s visual similarity to those on a blacklist. Tencent facilitates this realtime filtering by maintaining a hash index of MD5 hashes of sensitive image files.
