The moral compass of the FIFA World Cup

The level of criticism on Qatar in the lead up and in the first few days of the World Cup has probably been unprecedented for a global sporting event.

Furkan Ali Published November 28, 2022  

A staggering 5 billion viewers are expected to watch the football World Cup over the course of the next month. It is, by far, the biggest sporting event in the world. On the eve of the tournament, the President of FIFA, the world football governing body, decided to open his press conference with this gem:

“Today I have very strong feelings, today I feel Qatari, today I feel Arab, today I feel African, today I feel gay, today I feel disabled, today I feel a migrant worker.” He then thought it fit to swiftly clarify, “Of course, I am not Qatari, I am not an Arab, I am not African, I am not gay, I am not disabled. But I feel like it, because I know what it means to be discriminated, to be bullied.”

Decipher that at your own peril, but at least there’s some context.

This is the first time the World Cup is being held in the Middle East. It’s also the first time in living memory that the tournament, traditionally held in the summer, is being played in winter, when professional leagues around the world are only half way through the annual season. For those who don’t follow the sport, these are hardly newsworthy developments. But the last few weeks have shown that the implications have been profound.

Bribery allegations

It was way back in 2010 when Qatar won the right to host this year’s World Cup. This was announced simultaneously with the award of the 2018 World Cup to Russia. Soon after the announcement, however, the rumour mill went into overdrive. Serious allegations of corruption and bribery quickly took the gleam off.

Ultimately, FIFA was compelled to conduct an independent inquiry into the bidding process for both world cups. The Garcia Report was submitted in 2014. Although it highlighted a number of questionable transactions, as the New York Times reported, there was no smoking gun. That said, there was plenty of ammunition for future use.

After the eventual publication of the full report in 2017, Russia hosted a hugely successful World Cup only one year later. Some even tipped the tournament as the best ever. The cloud of corruption and foul play had been lifted from the world’s most popular sport. Or so it seemed.

The closer the tournament came to Qatar, the brighter the spotlight became. The debate now shifted from the much maligned bidding process from back in 2010 to workers, women and LGBTQ rights in Qatar.

The level of criticism on these issues in the lead up and in the first few days of the World Cup has probably been unprecedented for a global sporting event. Belgian and Danish kits have been designed to express solidarity with migrant workers and the LGBTQ community. The German team openly recorded their protest on curbs on the freedom of expression by covering their mouths during a team photo. Presenters have also gone to great lengths to make it a point to highlight human rights abuses in their broadcasts. One wonders why. Why is this time different?

Labour conditions

Qatar has had to build extensively at break neck speed to ready for the World Cup — from stadiums and hotels to roads and highways. In order to achieve this, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from South Asian countries were offered labour on the infamous kafala system, whereby the employer controls the worker’s entry and exit from the country. These migrant workers toiled away for years in abysmal working conditions, facing issues of delayed and deducted wages, extensive working hours without leave and serious occupational hazards.

In 2021, the Guardian reported that over 6,500 migrant workers had died since the award of the World Cup to Qatar. The reports on the number of World Cup job related deaths are controversial in themselves. Amnesty International claims over 15,000. FIFA and the Qatar, on the other hand, say only three! The sharp disparity in numbers is a manifestation of the divisiveness.

The focus on these issues by international organisations and media outlets did, however, lead to some reform. A number of initiatives have been taken by Qatari authorities in recent years, such as the establishment of a tribunal for quick resolution of labour disputes and a fund to support the payment of wages. But critics still lament that this was too little, too late. A big sticking point remains that of remedies, and Qatar’s failure to compensate families of victims who died of natural causes.

LGBTQ rights

Another cause for concern is LGBTQ rights. A tournament like the World Cup, hosting squads and fans from 32 different countries, is a celebration of different cultures. A prerequisite for the host nation is tolerance, even if only for a month, to enable free expression by people from different faiths and backgrounds.

But the Qatari approach towards the LGBTQ community isn’t particularly endearing. A few weeks before kick-off, a Qatari World Cup official referred to homosexuality as “damage in the mind.” Criminal law in Qatar also penalises homosexuality with imprisonment for up to seven years.

This has naturally led to concerns about the treatment of LGBTQ visitors to the country. The Qatari position has consistently been that everyone is encouraged to visit, but local culture should be respected. Make of that what you will, but public displays of homosexuality are clearly laced with peril.

Other, more general, human rights issues faced in Qatar are being continuously raised as well. For instance, critics have commented that women don’t enjoy the same rights as men when it comes to property, inheritance and marriage. Questions have also been posed over the limits on the freedom of expression and the dangerous consequences associated with criticising the state.

All these issues require serious and honest attention. But not only in Qatar and not only this winter.

Why target Qatar?

Pertinent questions were raised, perhaps surprisingly, by Piers Morgan in one radio show, who asked which country is clean enough to host a World Cup if we start using these metrics? He claimed that homosexuality was banned in eight of the 32 playing countries and in several countries in Africa. The United States has reprehensible gun and anti-abortion laws. Russia is guilty of the illegal annexation of Ukraine. The less said about China’s human rights record, the better. Why single out Qatar then?

The one aspect that arguably distinguishes Qatar is the subject of migrant workers.

These workers, suffering as they were, are the ones who’ve put this World Cup together. That makes it rather distasteful to celebrate the occasion without a thought for them. Something like celebrating victory when there are no real winners in the larger scheme of things. To that extent, Qatar stands out.

On a related note, there are also those who contend that politics has no place in sport. When you deep dive into ownership structures, sponsorship deals, broadcasting rights and societal influence of sport around the world, the fallacy of that argument becomes clear. Sportsmen around the world have been steadfast in protesting against racism and social injustice. ‘Sportswashing’ is slowly finding its feet.

Politics and sport clearly have a budding love affair. Let it be that way and use sport for the greater good. That includes using platforms, such as the World Cup to highlight issues that require the world’s attention. But there is no time and place for recording protests and raising human rights abuses. It should be done in Qatar today. And it should be done in equal measure in North America four years from now.

---

Header image: Shutterstock.com

Lula Da Silva’s Election is a Victory for the World

BY DEREK ROYDEN

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

RedditEmai

Image by Rafaela Biazi.

On October 30^th, Brazilians voted in a presidential runoff election that was won by Luiz ‘Lula’ Ignacio Da Silva. It was a victory by the narrowest of margins, although in fairness, the president elect’s opponent had the clear support of the federal highway patrol, which reportedly set hundreds of roadblocks in areas of the country that had supported the former president in the first round of voting.

It was an election with massive stakes, perhaps the most important of 2022 in any country, a vote that, in the best-case scenario, will impact not only Brazil but the whole world, especially in terms of the unfolding climate emergency.

As Brazil controls the largest part of the Amazon region, the fate of the region is in its government’s hands. Under the far-right reactionary Jair Bolsonaro, who has ruled Brazil since 2018, the meager protections in place to protect it were removed, leading to an orgy of both legal and illegal mining and logging and the subsequent encroachment of large agribusiness interests that threaten to transform the region from a forest into a savannah.

A side effect of this activity that the soon to be former president seemed gleeful about was the suffering being visited on what’s left of the country’s indigenous peoples, some of them uncontacted and living in isolation in their territories for centuries.

When climate scientists talk about ‘tipping points’ that could precipitate greater natural disasters in the short term and force average temperatures higher over time, the loss of the Amazon is one of their chief concerns. Preserving it becomes doubly important considering other tipping points are already being reached in terms of glacier melt, the loss of the world’s coral reefs, and other major forests like those in the Congo Basin that are being ravaged out of the view of most media.

President-elect Da Silva, who will take office on January 1^st, 2023, will have his work cut out for him and will need global support to protect this natural treasure, with the World Wildlife Fund having just released a report on the dire situation the Amazon faces at the COP27 summit that just ended in Egypt.

As the report’s authors wrote:

“The situation has begun to show signs of nearing a point of no return: seasons are changing, surface water is being lost, rivers are becoming increasingly disconnected and polluted, and forests are under immense pressure from increasingly devastating waves of deforestation and fire.” 

During an appearance at the same conference, Lula reminded the leaders of wealthy nations of a 2009 pledge to provide $100 billion a year to help poorer countries deal with the impacts of climate change that has not been followed through on, saying, “I don’t know how many representatives of rich countries are here; I want to say that my return here is also to collect on what was promised.”

We should start by ensuring that the money is there to help Lula achieve his promise to Brazilians to end deforestation in his country and defend the Amazon. It is in the whole world’s interest to make sure he succeeds.

Derek Royden is a writer based in Montreal, Canada.

Palestine: Statement by the Spokesperson on the Israeli demolition of school in Masafer Yatta

November 28, 2022

The European Union deplores the demolition of the donor-funded Sfai school in Masafer Yatta in the occupied Palestinian territory by the Israeli Defence Forces on Wednesday 23 November. The EU recalls that demolitions are illegal under international law, and children’s right to education must be respected.

This unacceptable development comes while 1.200 Palestinians in Masafer Yatta remain at risk of forced transfer following the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision in May, and against the backdrop of an increasingly coercive and intimidating environment for the Palestinian residents of Masafer Yatta, including the movement restrictions imposed on them, teachers and humanitarian responders.

The EU calls on Israel to halt all demolitions and evictions, which will only increase the suffering of the Palestinian population and further escalate an already tense environment.

White House DEFENDS deal to drill oil in Venezuela and rejects claims Biden is reducing production on American soil - less than a month after President said 'no more drilling'

• Over the Thanksgiving holiday the Biden administration quietly granted a license to Chevron to resume oil production in Venezuela
• The move eased sanctions imposed on the dictatorship in 2019 due to human rights violations
• 'Our expectation is there won't be a lot of oil coming out of there. And it will have to be shipped to the United States,' spokesman John Kirby said  

By MORGAN PHILLIPS, POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 28 November 2022

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said it is 'not accurate' to say President Biden would rather Venezuela drill for oil than the U.S. and tossed blame to oil companies for not taking advantage of drilling leases. 

Over the Thanksgiving holiday the Biden administration quietly granted a license to Chevron to resume oil production in Venezuela. The move eased sanctions imposed on the dictatorship in 2019 due to human rights violations. 

'Why is it that President Biden would rather let US companies drill for oil in Venezuela than here in the US?' Fox News' Peter Doocy asked Kirby during a news briefing Monday. 

'That's not an accurate take on the president's view,' Kirby said. 

'The president has issued 9,000 permits for drilling on U.S. federal lands, Peter, 9000 of them being unused. There are plenty of opportunities for oil and gas companies to drill here in the United States,' Kirby added. 

'The president has issued 9,000 permits for drilling on U.S. federal lands, Peter, 9000 of them being unused. There are plenty of opportunities for oil and gas companies to drill here in the United States,' Kirby added

He downplayed the move's effect on oil markets. 'Our expectation is there won't be a lot of oil coming out of there. And it will have to be shipped to the United States.' 

'This has nothing to do with a benefit to the climate,' Kirby added when asked about the environmental impact of the move. 

Lifting sanctions came after talks between socialist President Nicolás Maduro, and the opposition Unitary Platform resumed. 

Maduro - who has been sharply criticized for human rights abuses - agreed to allow for a UN-managed humanitarian fund focused on education, health, food security and electricity programs. He also agreed to negotiate with the opposition to hold 'free and fair' elections in 2024. 

Lifting sanctions came after talks between socialist President Nicolás Maduro, and the opposition Unitary Platform resumed

An oil pumpjack is seen in La Canada de Urdaneta, Venezuela

The White House insists the sanctions lift is not related to high fuel prices or the Russian war with Ukraine but is meant to 'alleviate the suffering of the Venezuelan people and support the restoration of democracy,' according to a Treasury Department statement. 

'Allowing Chevron to begin to lift oil from Venezuela is not something that is going to impact international oil prices. This is really about Venezuela and the Venezuelan process,' a White House official said. 

Chevron is the only remaining U.S. oil company in Venezuela. It is part of a joint venture with the state-run oil company there but has been barred by sanctions from operating there. No profits from the sale can go to the Venezuelan state-owned oil company PdVSA but must be used to pay debts to Venezuelan creditors in the U.S. 

Venezuela is home to the largest oil reserves in the world, slightly larger than Saudi Arabia's though its thick tar-like crude is harder to extract. The once-prosperous OPEC nation's hyper-inflationary collapse has led to more than three-quarters of the nation living below the poverty line. 

A record number of Venezuelans are turning up at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Sanctions on Venezuela began 15 years ago and tightened severely under the Trump administration, which almost completely banned U.S. oil business in Venezuela. 

In March, Biden officials held a meeting with Maduro officials to discuss easing sanctions on oil exports as gas prices surged in the U.S. 

Biden's attempt to appease both climate advocates and Americans concerned about high gas prices has led to a chaotic back-and-forth messaging on his energy policy. 

'No more drilling,' Biden said one month ago, remarks which came only days after he demanded more drilling. 

Biden, while stumping for Gov. Kathy Hochul in New York, responded to a question from the crowd about his promise to stop fracking and new drilling on federal lands and waters. 'No more drilling...there is no more drilling...I haven't formed any new drilling,' he said. 

The questioner pressed him by pointing out there had been new drilling in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico during his administration. 'That was before I was president. We're trying to work on that to get that done,' Biden said.  

But the Biden administration routinely boasts that it has approved 9,000 new drilling permits in its first 22 months in office. Oil industry experts say Biden's regulatory and legislative agenda prevents them from forking over the billions needed to rapidly add more refining capacity. 

On Biden's first day in office, he revoked a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have brought more Canadian crude to Gulf Coast refineries. Days later, he issued a moratorium on federal oil and gas leasing, which was later overturned in court. 

Then in October, Biden blamed oil companies for 'war-time profiteering' and threatened them with a new windfall tax if they did not increase their pace of drilling new wells. The attack came by surprise only days after Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm had met with executives and promised to work with them to find ways to increase diesel output. 

The sanctions relief comes after the Biden administration agreed to pay $1 billion in 'climate reparations' to poor countries impacted by the use of fossil fuels. 

The U.S. now appears to turn back to a corrupt dictatorship after shunning a U.S. ally looking to pump more oil due to climate concerns.  

In the spring, the Biden administration vetoed a $180 million Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan to increase energy production in oil-rich developing nation Guyana, an increasingly rare U.S. ally in South America. 

Its reason was 2021 Treasury 'guidance on fossil fuel energy at the multilateral development banks,' which says that the U.S. will 'promote ending international financing of carbon-intensive fossil fuel-based energy.' 

Oil prices hit lowest level since start of the year as China lockdown protests spook global markets

By CALUM MUIRHEAD FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 28 November 2022 |

Oil prices hit their lowest level since the start of the year as protests in China against lockdowns shocked global markets.

The price of Brent crude briefly slipped below $81 a barrel for the first time since early January as traders feared the unrest could put the brakes on China’s spluttering economic growth.

That, in turn, would hit demand for fuel in the energy-hungry state. Shell fell 0.3 per cent, or 6.5p, to 2360.5p and BP dipped 1 per cent, or 4.8p, to 483.55p.

Unrest: The price of Brent crude slipped below $81 for the first time since early January as traders feared anti-lockdown protests could put the brakes on China's economic growth

The protests were sparked by an apartment fire in the city of Urumqi last week which killed ten people.

Chinese social media users said strict pandemic control measures hampered rescue efforts. 

It has triggered protests in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan, where the virus originated in 2019.

Record high numbers of Covid infections this week have fuelled growing frustration about the draconian strategy of China’s ruler Xi Jinping, and fuelled the most significant unrest since the Tiananmen Square protests were suppressed in 1989.

Protests in China battle regime’s lockdown plan

A strict lockdown plan with surveillance and police powers has pushed many to protest the strategy combining with calls for democracy

Students at Southwest Jiaotong University hold a vigil for victims of the fire that sparked the protests

A wave of protests against Covid lockdowns in China are a challenge to the regime and its zero-Covid strategy. It underlines that, just as in the West, the anti-Covid measures were driven by the needs of profit, not people’s needs.

At least ten cities, including Shanghai, Beijing and Wuhan, were shaken by rare street demonstrations last weekend. The outbreak was sparked initially by a deadly ­apartment fire in Urumqi, in the Xinjiang region. Protesters there allege that a Covid lockdown ­hampered rescue efforts and made it harder for people to escape.

It was a sentiment that many in China could identify with. After nearly three years of pandemic restrictions, people have stories of being quarantined at home, ­sometimes with their doors welded shut by authorities.

The movement appears to be strongest on university campuses, where ­anti-lockdown sentiment has fused with demands for greater democracy. Their anger finds a ready echo among different layers of Chinese society. These range from migrant workers struggling with unemployment and food shortages during lockdowns to professionals angry at travel restrictions.

In Shanghai, demonstrators chanted for president Xi Jinping to resign—a bold demand in a country where dissent is punishable with long prison terms. Footage of that protest, obtained by the BBC, shows police squads dragging people away. Now authorities are said to be launching an even harsher crackdown.

The protesters’ anger comes amid a huge economic slowdown and the biggest Covid outbreak for at least six months, just as the state started to relax its measures. That means alongside anger at the Chinese state’s version of zero-Covid, there is a growing fear of a potentially devastating new wave.

Many think that if China abandons its Covid policy, the healthcare system will be overwhelmed. “Hospitals will inevitably face a shortage of beds to accommodate the influx of patients,” Michael Huang, who had just spent £500 on a ventilator, told the Financial Times newspaper. “I need to make sure my father receives treatment at home if the emergency room can’t take him.”

US continues aggression against China

The risk of the health service collapsing is real. Health spending per person in China is just £458 a year, compared to Britain’s £4,313. And, only half of people over 80 years old have had two shots of the vaccine.

That means an influx of extremely vulnerable people with Covid is a genuine possibility. Lifting all Covid restrictions immediately in China would lead to 5 million hospitalisations and 1.55 million deaths, according to a peer-reviewed study by Shanghai’s Fudan University.

That points to the real reason why the Chinese state pioneered its own version of a zero-Covid strategy. It wanted to keep health spending low while at the same time keeping factories running at full capacity.

For a period, its strategy could show real advantages over those pursued so recklessly in Britain and the US. Some 313 people per 100,000 have died of Covid in Britain. In China the number is just 1.

What the recent wave of protests in China proves is that maintaining a ­lockdown policy in one country alone—and under threat of state violence—cannot hold forever. The only zero-Covid strategy that stood a chance was one dictated and implemented by ordinary people themselves.

Is China a socialist country?

The recent 20th congress of the Communist Party of China was bedecked with red flags and hammer and sickle motifs that you would expect in a Stalinist regime. The state owns and controls most of the biggest corporations. But the country also has an abundance of millionaires and billionaires—some 1,305 people have a net worth of over £570 million.

The richest 10 percent own nearly 70 percent of all household wealth, so China can hardly be described as an equal society. The free market runs in ways similar to any other major world power. It is subject to the same drive towards booms and busts that Karl Marx pointed to in his descriptions of capitalism. And workers have no real democratic control.

China’s champions of state capitalism
Read More

So despite the imagery, China isn’t socialist. A revolutionary movement led by Mao Zedong in 1949 overthrew a corrupt dictatorship. It was a positive blow against imperialist countries and companies that wanted to continue their domination of China.

But Mao aimed to work within capitalism. He wanted to industrialise what he saw as a backward society. In place of the old elite, the Communist Party installed its own people to run agriculture and industry. And all of China’s resources were said to be owned by the state.

This allowed the leadership to declare China as socialist. But all the exploitative practices and inequalities associated with capitalism remained.

China engaged in military and economic competition with other states. And it sought to accumulate capital, forcing peasants and workers to labour in appalling conditions. That’s why the description of China as “state capitalist” best fits.

SOCIALIST WORKER UK

Nov 28, 2022

Photos show the true scale of the anti-COVID protests sweeping China

Jake Epstein

Mon, 28 November 2022 

Demonstrators in Beijing on November 27, 2022.Kevin Frayer/Getty Images, Stringer

• Protests have erupted across China as anger over strict COVID policies boils over.

• Some anti-government demonstrations have called for the end of Xi Jinping's rule.

• Photos show massive groups of people carrying symbols of defiance — a rare rebuke of Chinese rule.

Anti-government protests have swept across China over the last few days as anger over the country's strict zero-COVID measures boils over into defiance against the Chinese government's rule.

Nearly three years into the pandemic, Chinese President Xi Jinping has maintained draconian policies to contain the spread of the virus — including intense lockdowns — but COVID-19 cases have still surged in recent weeks.

Despite the rise in cases, people are starting to speak out publicly against the measures. At one factory, workers even rioted and clashed with security guards.

Tensions erupted after a fire broke out at an apartment building last week in the western Xinjiang region, leaving 10 people dead. Locals allege the strict COVID measures kept people from fleeing the burning building, the BBC reported.

Since the fire, mass protests — which are rare in China — have spread to cities across the country, including Beijing and Shanghai, as people express their anger over the tragedy in Xinjiang and their frustrations with the government.

Some protesters have called for Xi and the Communist Party to be stripped of their power, and have held blank sheets of paper above their heads as a symbol of their defiance.

The protests — while not as intense as the deadly Tiananmen Square rallies — are still the largest since 1989 and photographs show the scale of the demonstrations.

Some protesters have held vigils during demonstrations

People hold sheets of blank paper and flower in protest of COVID restriction in mainland as police setup cordon during a vigil in the central district on November 28, 2022 in Hong Kong, China.Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images

Anger boiled over after multiple people died in a fire in western China amid the country's strict lockdown requirements.

Protests have been largely peaceful, but there has been reported police violence

Police form a cordon during a protest against China's strict zero COVID measures on November 28, 2022 in Beijing, China.Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Though the demonstrations have been relatively peaceful, protesters in cities like Shanghai were met with police violence.

Protesters have used blank sheets of paper as a symbol of defiance

Protesters hold up pieces of paper against censorship and China's strict zero COVID measures on November 27, 2022 in Beijing, China.Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

In one symbol of defiance against the government, demonstrators have elected to raise blank, white sheets of paper over their heads.

"The white paper represents everything we want to say but cannot say," a man named Johnny told Reuters during a protest near Liangma River.

People chanted, "No to our leaders, yes to voting. We won't be slaves, we are citizens," at a protest in Beijing on Sunday while holding up pieces of paper. 

Protests are large in scale and widespread

Protesters march along a street during a rally for the victims of a deadly fire as well as a protest against China's harsh Covid-19 restrictions in Beijing on November 28, 2022.Photo by NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images

Protests over the weekend took place in multiple Chinese cities and regions, including Shanghai, Xinjiang, Beijing, and Nanjing.

Quiet vigils have turned into angry demonstrations

Protesters and police gather during a protest against Chinas strict zero COVID measures on November 27, 2022 in Beijing, China.Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Quiet vigils for those killed in the Xinjiang fire have turned into demonstrations, with people chanting "we don't want PCR tests" and urging a change in the country's leadership.

Some arrests have been made

Protesters clash with policemen during a protest in Beijing, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022.AP Photo/Andy Wong

According to a report from the BBC, police have arrested some protesters and sectioned off streets. It's unclear how many people have been arrested.

Censorship hides some protests content

Protesters clash with policemen during a protest in Beijing, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022.AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

Some content related to the ongoing protests, like hashtags or footage of demonstrations, has been censored from Chinese social media sites.

SEX BOTS are used to curb Chinese Covid protests: Porn accounts flood Twitter with racy escort ads and erotic videos 'in Beijing plot to drown out reports on riots'

Users searching for names of Chinese cities on Twitter found sea of lewd posts

Dormant Chinese bot accounts flooded social network with porn and escort ads

Analysts say its a CCP ploy to cover up scale of anti-lockdown protests in China

By DAVID AVERRE FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 06:42 EST, 28 November 2022 | UPDATED: 06:59 EST, 28 November 2022

A torrent of spam posts advertising escort services have flooded Twitter amid protests against China's Covid protocols, analysts have said, claiming the Chinese government is trying to cover up the scale of the demonstrations.

Searches performed on the social media network in Chinese for names of cities where anti-lockdown protests have erupted revealed untold numbers of erotic posts published by Chinese bot accounts.

Twitter was blocked in China by the ruling Communist Party (CCP) in 2009, but users in the country can still access the platform via a VPN or website proxy service and use it to find information not subject to Chinese censors.
ADVERTISEMENT

Several major Chinese cities including Shanghai and the capital of Beijing have been rocked by protests in recent days, and researchers from Stanford University believe the porn-posting bot accounts are part of a government effort to scupper the spread of information on the social network.

Mengyu Dong, a Chinese-American researcher at Stanford University, posted numerous examples of the spam via his Twitter profile while other users called on the social network's CEO Elon Musk to tackle the problem.

Stanford University researchers highlighted the problem that has seen searches for Chinese cities blotted out by a sea of erotic posts from bot accounts

+11
View gallery


Mengyu Dong, a Stanford researcher, posted several examples


This is one of untold numbers of racy posts which are revealed when a Twitter user performs a search for a major Chinese city

Protesters hold blank white pieces of paper during a protest triggered by a fire in Urumqi that killed 10 people in Beijing, China, 27 November 2022

Students at China's top Tsinghua University in the capital city Beijing protest COVID lockdown measures

Large numbers of Chinese-language Twitter accounts burst into life on Sunday and began inundating search feeds with racy images, suggestive videos and links to escort services.

Many of the accounts were created years ago and had been lying dormant, having posted little to no content.

But since protests spread across the country this weekend, the accounts suddenly began churning out thousands of posts per day.

The erotic images and videos included in the posts are accompanied by the names of cities to ensure that the distraction would turn up in searches for those seeking information on the demonstrations.

Thousands of Chinese citizens rose up over the weekend to protest the government's ruthless zero-Covid policy after ten people died in an apartment fire in the city of Urumqi, where residents were enduring their third month of total lockdown.

The protests have since broadened to include general anti-government sentiment, with stunning reports having emerged of citizens calling for President Xi Jinping to resign.

Twitter users posted multiple examples of the spam accounts and called on Twitter and its CEO Elon Musk to fix the problem

Spam accounts posted various images and videos urging Twitter users to visit porn and escort sites


Students take part in a protest against COVID-19 curbs at Tsinghua University in Beijing


Police officers block a road during a protest triggered by a fire in Urumqi that killed 10 people in Beijing, China, 27 November 2022

The sea of spam posts will prove a point of concern for Twitter CEO Musk, who has been vocal in his desire to cut down the number of bot accounts plaguing the platform.

One former employee at Twitter claimed 'all the China influence operations and analysts at Twitter all resigned' following Musk's highly-publicised takeover last month.

'This is a known problem that our team was dealing with manually, aside from automations we put in place,' said the former employee, who spoke to The Washington Post on condition of anonymity.

'Another exhibit where there are now even larger holes to fill.'

But the cover-up operation seemed to be flagging by Monday morning, as videos and images of the protest once again emerged to the top of the search feeds.

A current Twitter employee told the Washington Post the company had been working on the problem since midday on Sunday.

'Fifty percent porn, 50 percent protests,' said one U.S. government contractor and China expert, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence issues.

'Once I got 3 to 4 scrolls into the feed' to see posts from earlier in the day, it was 'all porn.'

BBC journalist was beaten up and arrested 'for his own good to stop him catching Covid' while covering protests that have rocked China

----

A BBC journalist covering historic protests against President Xi Jinping's lockdown rules in China was arrested and beaten by police officers, with Chinese officials later making the bizarre claim that he was detained for his 'own good' in case he caught Covid from the crowd.

Shocking footage from the anti-government protests in Shanghai shows Edward Lawrence, a camera operator for the BBC's China Bureau, being dragged away by Xi's officers as he screams 'call the consulate now' to a friend.

Mr Lawrence was beaten and kicked by the police officers and held in custody for 'several hours' before being released, as Chinese officials sought to crack down on the media and protesters in the city.

The British journalist said today that at least one local was arrested after they tried to stop the police from beating him during his arrest.

Shanghai police officers tried to dismiss the arrest as being for Mr Lawrence's 'own good', claiming that he was arrested 'in case he caught Covid from the crowd'. The BBC dismissed the farfetched explanation as implausible.

Police in China break up protest over latest COVID restrictions





Footage also shows the journalist helpless on the ground with three aggressive officers in hi-vis jackets standing over him and pulling his arms behind his back

The UK's Business Secretary Grant Shapps today denounced the officers' actions as 'unacceptable' and 'concerning'. He told LBC radio: 'Whatever else happens, freedom of the press should be sacrosanct.'

Dr Alan Mendoza, executive director of the human rights group the Henry Jackson Society in London, told the Mail: 'This latest outrage shows the true face of the Chinese Communist Party's regime in attacking all the values the West hold dear.

'Media freedom is essential to our system and the Chinese crackdown against it needs the strongest of refutations from the UK Prime Minister. This is no time for him to go wobbly.'

China is facing its largest anti-government demonstrations since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, with protests erupting in at least seven cities over the country's strict zero-Covid rules.

The catalyst for the protests was an apartment fire last week in the western city of Urumqi in which ten people died. Many speculated that Covid curbs in the city, parts of which had been under lockdown for 100 days, had hindered rescue and escape, which city officials denied.

The largest of the demonstrations has taken place in Shanghai - home to 26million residents - with many also boldly demanding that President Xi resign.

China's foreign ministry today insisted the government's 'fight against Covid-19 will be successful'.