BEIJING, May 20 — Chinese social media platform Weibo has blocked a hashtag featuring the name of Taiwan’s new President Lai Ching-te, a notice on the website showed today.
“According to relevant laws, regulations, and policies, the content of this topic has not been displayed,” a search for the hashtag #LaiChing-te on the X-like Weibo showed around 10.40am.
It wasn’t immediately clear when the hashtag was blocked, and search results for Lai’s name still yielded results.
A hashtag bearing the name of outgoing Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen was also blocked.
And another, “Taiwan 520 new authorities take office”, was removed.
Weibo often blocks hashtags deemed politically sensitive to prevent them from trending on the platform, used by hundreds of millions in China.
During Taiwan’s presidential election in January, the platform blocked a hashtag on the poll after it became one of the site’s top-trending topics.
Lai — denounced by Beijing as a “dangerous separatist” — was sworn in today as president of the democratic island.
But there has been scant mention of his inauguration in China’s state-run media, with neither state broadcaster CCTV nor ruling party organ People’s Daily featuring coverage on their home pages as of 11am Monday. — AFP
