I assume most people know that sensitive topics in China are often automatically rejected if they trigger a keyword filter. Sometimes, they’re deleted by human censors employed by Internet companies. Now, the censorship reaches the digital PR industry in China!
Recently, Southern City Daily carried an article about a rising number of China’s digital PR agencies that are deleting negative articles and posts for their clients. According to the article, organizations or individuals claiming to be PR agencies are offering to delete such negative contents on request, asking for fees ranging from RMB10,000 ($1,400) for major portals such as Sina.com and Sohu.com, to RMB1,000 ($140) for local Web sites.
The author of the article interviewed a couple of PR companies and found out that deleting negative comments for clients is becoming popular. Some companies make a larger profit by deleting negative comments than they do for their regular projects.
The author also found out that the entire transaction was done over the web, with upfront cash deposited into a bank account. The article also said that the only kind of news these companies won’t touch is anything government-related.
I feel angry after I read this article. I already held back my opinion about deleting sensitive topics that are related to politics; now I can’t even post anything negative I experience with a product. Where’s the transparency?
May 18, 2009 at 1:31 pm
I’m surprised that censorship is just reaching the digital PR industry in China. I thought it would have already made it to China. Deleting negative comments for clients seems to be becoming more and more popular. I agree with you in that it is irritating that one can’t express their troubles with a product with a negative comment because if a person does it will only be deleted.