Chinese tech giant Tencent’s social media platform WeChat has deleted dozens of LGBT accounts held by university students.
Groups’ WeChat pages, including Gay Pride at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and ColoursWorld at Peking University, have deleted their previous posts and replaced them with a notice stating, “All content has been blocked and use of the Account was discontinued “because of violations of unspecified social media regulations.
The brief notices said WeChat had received “complaints” on the sites while the groups’ account names were changed to “Untitled Account” on Tuesday based on publicly visible account records.
The super app WeChat is China’s largest social media platform with instant messaging, blogs and other content, as well as the ability to make payments.
While homosexuality, which was classified as a mental disorder until 2001, is legal in China, same-sex marriage is not recognized. Social stigma and pressure still keep people from coming out.
That year, a court upheld the university’s description of homosexuality as a “mental disorder” and ruled that it was not a factual error.
The LGBT community has repeatedly come into conflict with censorship and the Cyberspace Administration of China recently pledged to clean up the internet to protect minors and crack down on social media groups that are considered “bad influence”.
The Weibo social media platform, owned by Weibo Corp, has intermittently removed lesbian content, and the online community board platform Zhihu has censored gender and identity issues.
Last year, China’s only Pride festival was canceled indefinitely after organizers raised concerns about staff safety.
“Authorities have limited the space available for LGBT advocacy and civil society in general. This is another twist on the screw, ”said Darius Longarino, Senior Fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai’s China Center, who focuses on LGBT rights and gender equality.
(With contributions from agencies)
