1,000,000-word novel acquired censored earlier than it was even shared. Now Chinese customers need solutions.

The information blew up on social media on July 11 after a number of outstanding influencer accounts belatedly picked it up. It turned the highest trending matter on Weibo that day, with customers questioning whether or not WPS is infringing on their privateness. Since then, The Economic Observer, a Chinese publication, has reported that a number of different on-line novelists have had their drafts locked for unclear causes previously. 

Mitu’s criticism triggered a social media dialogue in China about censorship and tech platform accountability. It has additionally highlighted the strain between Chinese customers’ increasing awareness of privacy and tech corporations’ obligation to censor on behalf of the federal government. “This is a case the place maybe we’re seeing that these two issues certainly would possibly collide,” says Tom Nunlist, an analyst on China’s cyber and information coverage on the Beijing-based analysis group Trivium China 

While Mitu’s doc has been saved on-line and was beforehand shared with an editor in 2021, she says she had been the one individual enhancing it this yr, when it was abruptly locked. “The content material is all clear and might even be revealed on a [literature] web site, however WPS determined it ought to be locked. Who gave it the proper to look into customers’ non-public paperwork and resolve what to do with them arbitrarily?” she wrote.

First launched in 1989 by the Chinese software program firm Kingsoft, WPS claims to have 310 million month-to-month customers. It has partly benefited from authorities grants and contracts because the Chinese authorities regarded to bolster its personal companies over overseas rivals on safety grounds.