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Google has deleted 2,500 YouTube accounts that were linked to Chinese disinformation campaigns. Most of the accounts just posted “spammy, non-political content,” but some did touch on politics. My speculation is that Google foresaw the other accounts eventually stepping into political disinformation after they built up a following, a common trick on other social media platforms.

This is quite the change of affairs since May, when YouTube was caught automatically deleting comments that are critical of communist China. YouTube claimed it was in error, and they addressed the issue.

International pressure against China has been growing. Angela Merkel is facing mounting pressure from German lawmakers to confront the Chinese president Xi Jinping over China’s human rights violations. Almost on cue, a Chinese scholar has been arrested for criticizing the government.

A University of Queensland philosophy student is facing expulsion for criticizing China’s human rights record. Let’s let the sink in for a moment. This student might be expelled for criticizing the same government that is sending Uighurs to detention camps for growing beards or wearing veils, both related to Muslim practices. The same government that is also detaining Uighurs for visiting foreign websites.

More news.