--- title: "Censors in China Are Having a Hard Time Silencing All the Rage Right Now" description: "Shanghai residents have had enough amid the weeks-long lockdown. Food shortages and healthcare disruptions have become commonplace, despite the government urging the city’s 25 million residents to remain positive, The Guardian reports. Censors are now cracking down on photos and videos of sick people not getting sufficient access to healthcare or being mistreated by healthcare […]" date: "2022-04-21" modified: "2022-04-21" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/censors-china-hard-time-silencing-rage" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "censorship" - "china" - "covid19" - "Shanghai" --- # Censors in China Are Having a Hard Time Silencing All the Rage Right Now ![Censors in China are cracking down on photos and videos of sick people not getting sufficient access to healthcare or reportedly being mistreated by healthcare workers.]() *\Image: Yin Liqin/China News Service via Getty Images\* Shanghai residents have had enough amid a weeks-long lockdown. Food shortages and healthcare disruptions are not uncommon, [*The Guardian* reports](), despite the government urging the city's 25 million residents to remain positive. Censors on social media platforms are cracking down on photos and videos of sick people not getting sufficient access to healthcare, or even being mistreated by healthcare workers. Hashtags of people complaining about food shortages are being outright banned. Earlier this month, videos emerged of Shanghai residents [screaming in apparent protest]() from their balconies and urban high-rise homes. But now, residents are getting creative online — including, in a clever move, sidestepping censorship by replacing the word "China" with "US" in their complaints, according to the *Guardian.* It's perhaps an early sign that the government's efforts to spread propaganda about its controversial "zero-COVID" approach are starting to show cracks amid the most recent wave of the coronavirus. For the moment, the tides certainly appear to be turning. "I think that what has happened in Shanghai would not happen in Beijing," co-founder of censorship monitoring site GreatFire.com, who goes by the pseudonym Charlie Smith, told the *Guardian*. "But certainly something has changed. People have lost trust in the government, they are not likely to believe what the government tells them and they are going to question propaganda." Human rights complaints directed at the "US" can still be found across Chinese social media, according to newspaper*,* despite censors' best efforts. "The epidemic has made the Chinese see a lot more clearly," one person wrote. "Chinese people are obedient, but they’re not stupid." **READ MORE:** [China internet censors scramble as lockdown frustration sparks ‘creative’ wave of dissent]() \[*The Guardian*\] **More on Shanghai:** [*Why People in Locked Down Shanghai Are Screaming Out Their Windows*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()