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submitted 1 month ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

The number of Chinese websites is shrinking and posts are being removed and censored, stoking fears about what happens when history is erased.

Chinese people know their country’s internet is different. There is no Google, YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. They use euphemisms online to communicate the things they are not supposed to mention. When their posts and accounts are censored, they accept it with resignation.

They live in a parallel online universe. They know it and even joke about it.

Now they are discovering that, beneath a facade bustling with short videos, livestreaming and e-commerce, their internet — and collective online memory — is disappearing in chunks.

post on WeChat on May 22 that was widely shared reported that nearly all information posted on Chinese news portals, blogs, forums, social media sites between 1995 and 2005 was no longer available.

“The Chinese internet is collapsing at an accelerating pace,” the headline said. Predictably, the post itself was soon censored.

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[-] RiemannZetaFunction@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 month ago

They don't have Google in China at all?

[-] wurzelgummidge@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

No, nor anything from Zukerbook. They don't even have TikTok, they have their own versions.

this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2024
204 points (95.9% liked)

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