by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - One of China’s most popular workplace communication apps has censored the account of a Christian woman because she posted what it described as “illegal” religious messages, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
China’s ruling communist regime considers Christianity to be a threat to its authority and has worked to suppress it in various ways, including through restricting believers’ content and communication on the internet.
The Christian woman was censored on her account with DingTalk, the popular all-in-one mobile workplace platform owned by the Alibaba Group, ICC reports. The believers’ account was blocked on several occasions for periods of time ranging from three days to 28 days. Upon complaining to DingTalk, the Christian was told her religious messages violated the platform’s rules.
ICC noted that news of the censorship came shortly after China’s Administrative Measures for Internet Religious Information Services came into effect in March. These controlling measures were implemented because Chinese authorities claim faith groups “set up virtual religious activity venues and religious institutions on the Internet…which disrupted and impacted the normal order of religious affairs management.”
Under the new rules, anyone who wants to post religious content online must “apply to the provincial departments of religious affairs, making a detailed statement on the licensing requirements, application materials, username, and the time limit for acceptance,” ICC said. Neither individuals nor groups can convene online or share religious content of any kind unless they have been registered and approved by the state.
“With the escalating control of cyberspace, several products of the Alibaba Group, such as WeChat, and Alibaba Cloud Server, have seen severe censorship in the past years,” China Christian Daily noted in a recent report.
China ranks 17th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2022 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.