This image was banned on 2 QQ (Chinese) social media forums. This is a label from a carton of 30 Burnbrae large eggs, made in the USA. Photo 1 by Don Tai
I do not intend to be subversive on Chinese social media, nor very political. I also do stay away from sensitive issues on QQ, a Chinese social media messaging and forum site. This image ban, however, really took me by surprise. I teach some English on the Chinese forums, so I thought I’d show them a typical Canadian product label in English and French. I tried 3 times, and the QQ bot banned me all three times from posting to 2 separate QQ forums. Very odd.
This image was banned on 2 QQ (Chinese) social media forums. This is a label from a carton of 30 Burnbrae large eggs, made in the USA. Photo 1 by Don Tai
The error message, which I received immediately upon posting, and consistent was:
管理员Q群管家撤回了一条成员消息
guan3li3yuan2 Qqun2guan3jia1 che4hui4le yi1tiao2 cheng2yuan2 xiao1xi1
The Q forum butler manager bot has withdrawn a member’s message.
An image was banned on 2 QQ (Chinese) social media forums. It was a label from a carton of 30 Burnbrae large eggs, made in the USA. Error message: 管理员Q群管家撤回了一条成员消息 The Q forum butler manager bot has withdrawn a member’s message. Photo 2 by Don Tai
There are strict rules on QQ forums. Any talk to do with politics, anti-China, anti-CCP, even talk about cotton, any subject that was or is controversial in the past, present or future, is all not allowed. If authorities do see an infraction they will wipe out the forum, and possibly put forum members and their families in jeopardy. No one wants that.
If the QQ authorities fail to act their parent company, Tencent, will get a large fine and censure from the Central government, and will be required to apologize and not do it again. This has happened in the past.
Covered under China’s Internet Media law, both QQ and WeChat forums have been used by Chinese authorities to prosecute and jail Chinese netizen posters and their families. I do not flaunt any of these censorship rules, as I know their implications.
China’s Great Firewall does not legally allow Chinese netizens out. It is illegal in China to buy, sell or use a VPN that you have not authorized with the Chinese government. Chinese people are curious about the West, but alas, cannot easily get out. Google search, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and almost all other Western social media are banned within China. Foreigners wanting to use Chinese social media have few choices: WeChat, QQ, HelloTalk and possibly Signal. The biggest hurdle for foreigners is the Chinese language, which is not only daunting to learn but very difficult. Few regular Chinese know enough English to have a meaningful conversation.
