The Chinese Communist Party’s censorship of online speech has reached alarming levels, where even a picture of one banana and four apples can be considered a visual metaphor for the Tiananmen Square massacre “Tank Man” and therefore censored.
Confidential documents obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reveal that the Chinese Communist Party is utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) tools for censorship in an attempt to erase the memory of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre from the public eye. Experts quoted in the article cautioned that with continued use of such censorship methods, the younger generation may only see sanitized information, leading to the creation of a false history.
According to the more than 230-page censorship directive obtained by ABC from industry insiders, the scale of censorship by the Chinese authorities is growing larger, more sophisticated, and harder to detect.
The revealed censorship documents from the Chinese Communist Party show that any online spread of content related to the bloody crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy movement will cause unease in Beijing. The documents require the removal of any content depicting the Chinese government’s violence, providing references such as bloody images of the Chinese military shooting at civilians.
ABC learned that these contents are being used by frontline censors for training AI tools, to review a massive amount of content under the leadership of the Chinese Cyberspace Administration. Posts on social media undergo initial scanning by AI systems, known as “machine review,” especially sensitive during the lead up to the anniversary of June Fourth.
Part of the content of the documents reveals a training manual for TikTok censors in 2022 listing the well-known Tank Man photo from “June Fourth” as a “subversive image.”
The documents also show that any image resembling the concept of “one person against four tanks” –even if it’s just “a line of one banana and four apples”– could be immediately flagged by algorithms, especially in the first week of June each year.
Dr. Lennon Chang, an expert in online risks at Deakin University in Australia, told ABC that AI makes real-time censorship of images and symbols more feasible.
“Even if the Tank Man photo is replaced with bananas and apples, the algorithm can still recognize this pattern,” Dr. Chang said.
Dr. Chang explained that this shift towards algorithm-dominated censorship exacerbates the risk of history being forgotten.
“If censorship continues to exist and relies more on AI in the future, the younger generation may never know the truth,” he said. “The information they see has long been filtered and sanitized. This will create a false world—a false history.”
The guidance document obtained by ABC also prohibits the use of seemingly innocuous expressions like candles and flowers that carry commemorative meanings.
According to Hong Kong media reports, on June 3, a day before the 36th anniversary of “June Fourth”, former Tsuen Wan District Councillor and pro-democracy activist Katrina Chan was subjected to hours of inspection by customs officials at the “Tung Heung Wui” store in West Kowloon Center. She was informed that she was suspected of violating the “Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance” because she did not affix bilingual safety labels on the products.
The real reason behind the search of this store before the “June Fourth” commemoration date sparked speculation. “Tung Heung Wui” promoted on social media that June is “Month of Memory”, selling aromatic candles for HK$89 and natural soy wax candles for HK$6.4 from the end of May to June 4.
On the early morning of June 4, 1989, the Chinese government deployed troops and tanks to violently suppress students and workers advocating for democracy, resulting in the shocking Tiananmen Square Massacre. Many students and civilians died, with some fleeing overseas. A man in white blocking the tanks’ path became a global symbol, known as the “Tank Man”, and the event became emblematic of “June Fourth.”
To this day, the Chinese authorities continue to cover up the truth, repress participants, and do not allow people to commemorate this event. The “June Fourth” incident remains a taboo topic in China under CCP rule.
Though the Chinese Communist Party has never disclosed the death toll of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, human rights organizations and witnesses estimate the death toll to be in the thousands.