---
title: "China Censored Info About Growing Pandemic on Social Media"
description: "In the face of a worsening public health crisis, the Chinese government is censoring social media and articles about the Wuhan virus."
date: "2020-01-22"
modified: "2020-01-23"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/china-censored-pandemic-social-media"
categories:
  - "Developments"
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "2019-ncov"
  - "censorship"
  - "china"
  - "medicine"
  - "wuhan"
---

# China Censored Info About Growing Pandemic on Social Media

![In the face of a worsening public health crisis, the Chinese government is censoring social media and articles about the Wuhan virus.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/china-accused-censoring-danger-pandemic-social-media.jpg>)
*NIAID/Victor Tangermann \<em\>Image: NIAID/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

As the pneumonia-like virus 2019-nCoV spreads outward from China to nearby countries and [now the U.S.](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/mysterious-deadly-chinese-virus-reaches-us>), the Chinese government is reportedly trying to seize control of the narrative around the disease as much as possible.

That includes carefully crafting its own messages and statements — and also censoring social media posts and news articles about the virus, [according to *The New York Times*](<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/21/world/asia/china-coronavirus-wuhan.html>).

So far, Wuhan police have investigated eight people for allegedly spreading rumors online, according to [state media agency *Xinhua*](<http://www.xinhuanet.com/legal/2020-01/01/c_1125412773.htm>), a move that risks downplaying a dangerous situation.

"This is the sort of thing that could absolutely gnaw at the confidence and legitimacy of the whole regime," Kerry Brown, a King's College London expert on Chinese politics and history, told the *NYT*.

The Chinese government is particularly driven to mitigate the public perception of the viral outbreak — which has now killed [at least nine](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/22/asia/china-wuhan-coronavirus-deadly-intl-hnk/index.html>) — and avoid the global community from drawing parallels to the SARS pandemic, the *NYT* reports.

So when concerned Chinese people started posting information about the Wuhan virus outbreak with the hashtag #WuhanSARS, the government stepped in and deleted them.

Coupled with those reports of censorship, Wuhan residents told the *NYT* that they felt the government only put out statements or disseminated information about the disease — such as the recent confirmation that it could [spread among humans](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/deadly-virus-spreading-humans>) — after backlash.

"I hope the government will report the epidemic honestly," Wuhan resident Luo Jie told the *NYT*. "That's how to set people’s minds at ease."

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)