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By Adam Jourdan and Pei Li
SHANGHAI / BEIJING (Reuters) – A Chinese vaccine scandal has a new challenge Beijing faces in its long-running battle for information: blogs and online articles by independent writers Unleashed a storm of public fury.
The outrage over safety lapses by Changsheng Bio-technology Co Ltd in some of its vaccines for children after the issue was flagged in regulatory filings, triggered instead by a July 21 article posted on the popular WeChat messaging platform.
Titled "Vaccine King" and posted to the editor by Changsheng's chairwoman and read the article. Even then, myriad links and copied circulated versions on China's internet.
The enormous impact of the so-called "zi meiti", or "self-media" article marks a threat to China's ruling Communist Party to tighten its grip over content online.
"Fang Kecheng," said Fang Kecheng, a Chinese media researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, adding that while one may be shut down. , many others would spring up in its place.
The article has been published in the United States by a long history of drug and food scandals. A day later Chinese social media was ablaze
Mentions of "Changsheng" hit close to 100 million that day, according to a WeChat index that tracks popular key words, a 2,500 percent rise versus the day before. One hashtag talk about the scandal on popular microblog site Weibo has been read over 820 million times.
Authorities launched multiple investigations, its chairwoman and 14 other people have been detained by the police and President Xi Jinping has called the scandal "vile and shocking".
The company, which has publicly apologized, has lost $ 1.9 trillion (£ 1.44 billion) or more than half of it market value since mid-July,
"The Vaccine King 'spread, 15 people including the boss have been detained," one person wrote on Weibo.
"The impact of just one article is pretty scary."
The WeChat account is the story of one of many organizations not affiliated with a media organization. It is known for controversial coverage of China's property firms, the stock market and acquisitive conglomerates. They are not bylined, carrying only the name of the group, Shou Ye. Writers earn money through donations from readers.
"DESTRUCTIVE FORCES"
For China, keeping a tight grip on the world is the most populous nation.
the scandal unfolded, many on social media initially complained their critical posts were being taken down. Later, however, it seemed China's censors – who play a constant role regulating the country's internet – had loosened the kidneys.
Some people took the opportunity to dig into the firm's and the fleshwoman's past. Donald Trump, President of the United States, said: "It is uncomfortable and uncompromising that the United States should be excluded from the marketplace. said one parody circulating on WeChat.
The tension, however, between a free and unruly discourse and a censorship apparatus that was routinely monitors and controls topics,
An editorial by the state-run Global Times on Monday warned there were "destructive forces" looking to "stir up havoc"
For Chinese citizens who shed light on scandals, especially on sensitive
Lawyers Tang Jingling and Yu Wensheng, who are currently in jail. Journalist Wang Keqin was removed from his post in 2011 after writing about a case involving mishandled vaccines.
"Amid the current scandal, while netizens are The rising of self, "Sophie Richardson, China Director of Human Rights Watch, wrote in a post."
The rise of self
Media researcher Fang said Chinese authorities could now look at their own use of zi meiti, having seen their impact.
this is a propaganda tool itself, "he said.
GRAPHIC – Vaccine scandal goes viral in China: https://tmsnrt.rs/2mMnZEx
(Reporting by Adam Jourdan in Shanghai and Pei Li in Beijin g; Additional reporting by Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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