China: when emojis bypass censorship

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Time.news OF SHANGHAI. Faced with the censorship that watches over social networks, especially in times of Covid, Chinese Internet users are using creativity.

By Marie Fourier (in Shanghai)

The use of emojis or the Latin alphabet allows the Chinese to circumvent censorship on social networks. (Illustrative photo)
© DA QING / Imaginechina / Imaginechina via AFP

Published on 23/10/2022 at 12:00 p.m.

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Et suddenly, in full confinement, the sheep flowered in the conversations in Shanghai. On online group chats, it’s not uncommon to be surprised by a word that doesn’t seem to belong. The woolly animal that appeared en masse in cats last spring replaced a word that had become highly suspicious: “positive”, for “tested positive for Covid-19”.

The word is pronounced in Chinese ” which », exactly the same sound as the word meaning « sheep ». The use of the little sheep emoji made it possible to discuss stories of positive cases without triggering the increased surveillance of censorship which could have been tried to track down undetected cases.

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