What RedNote and Weibo Do Not Tell You

(Minghui.org) I read that some American youths believe people in China have freedom of belief. Some even downloaded the Chinese phone apps Xiaohongshu (RedNote in English) or Weibo. Because I fled China to live in a free society, I found this situation baffling—even amusing.

People may not know that Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, and Google are banned by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “Great Firewall.” Chinese people’s options are limited to RedNote, Weibo, and a few other apps.

Due to tight censorship, RedNote and Weibo only tell you things the CCP wants you to know. Any other information is banned through sophisticated algorithms. Those who attempt to post information disfavored by the CCP face serious consequences.

For example, a tour guide recently noticed corpses being burned on a glacier in Tibet. A helicopter was next to the scene. When he posted a photo on Weibo, the tour guide commented that the scene might be related to forced organ harvesting and that the victims’ bodies were burned. The post was quickly removed. The next day, the tour guide’s own body was found on the glacier.

When someone posted the story of what happened to this tour guide on social media such as Weibo, RedNote, and Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok), the posts were immediately removed.

The CCP closely monitors and censors websites, social media, and cell phones in China. From removing posts and deactivating accounts to arresting the posters and worse, the CCP goes to great lengths to ensure that only approved content is available on the Internet.

Another banned story is that of Long Xingyu, a 24-year-old graduate student from Wuhan City, Hubei Province. He was hospitalized due to a knee injury in March 2023. His condition was said to have worsened. After announcing that he was “brain dead,” surgeons removed his heart, liver, kidneys, and corneas as “donations” for organ transplantation.

Others have supposedly gone missing or committed suicide. Hu Xinyu, a 15-year-old high school student, went missing in October 2022. Facing public pressure to provide an explanation, the police announced three months later that Hu had “committed suicide.” But numerous pieces of evidence indicated he was a victim of forced organ harvesting.

In another case, intern doctor Luo Shuaiyu was found dead outside his dorm at the Xiangya Second Hospital of Central House University in Hunan Province in May 2024. The police claimed he committed suicide. But his parents were able to recover a large amount of deleted information about organ trafficking in the hospital from his computer. His death was likely related.

RedNote and Weibo only allow content that praise the CCP and depict a peaceful society in China, while silencing information that exposes various social problems. This is why people in China rely on other channels or have to circumvent the internet firewall in order to access overseas media and learn about events happening in their own country, including the sewage smell from tap water in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, and massive lead poisoning at a kindergarten in Tianshui City, Gansu Province. The censored content also includes how the CCP has been persecuting and defaming the Falun Gong meditation practice for the past 26 years.

None of this censorship should be surprising, however. If a totalitarian regime blocks Facebook and YouTube, it likely tightly controls social media and other information channels as well. In order to understand the real situation in China, one needs to check independent sources instead of those controlled or influenced by the CCP.