A million-word novel got censored before it was even shared. Now Chinese users want answers.

The information blew up on social media on July 11 soon after a number of prominent influencer accounts belatedly picked it up. It turned the leading trending topic on Weibo that working day, with customers questioning whether or not WPS is infringing on their privacy. Because then, The Financial Observer, a Chinese publication, has noted that various other on the internet novelists have had their drafts locked for unclear explanations in the earlier. 

Mitu’s complaint brought on a social media dialogue in China about censorship and tech system obligation. It has also highlighted the pressure amongst Chinese users’ expanding recognition of privateness and tech companies’ obligation to censor on behalf of the govt. “This is a scenario where by maybe we are seeing that these two things in truth may well collide,” states Tom Nunlist, an analyst on China’s cyber and information plan at the Beijing-dependent study group Trivium China 

When Mitu’s document has been saved online and was earlier shared with an editor in 2021, she states she experienced been the only individual enhancing it this calendar year, when it was out of the blue locked. “The articles is all thoroughly clean and can even be posted on a [literature] site, but WPS determined it should really be locked. Who gave it the appropriate to glance into users’ non-public paperwork and decide what to do with them arbitrarily?” she wrote.

Initial introduced in 1989 by the Chinese application business Kingsoft, WPS statements to have 310 million monthly users. It has partly benefited from government grants and contracts as the Chinese government seemed to bolster its possess companies in excess of international rivals on security grounds.