I Am Practicing Self-Censorship in US Now, Something I Didn't Do Even in the CCP's Labor Camp
by Jennifer Zeng
November 18, 2020
Originally published at Jennifer’s World
If someone says that the situation of free speech in the US is worse than in Communist China, perhaps nobody will believe it, including myself. However, after I wrote down the following statement of what I experienced in the US recently for an investigative reporter regarding social media’s censorship, I suddenly realized that I am practicing self-censorship "consciously and voluntarily" now, which I had surely not done before even in the forced labor camp in China!
After reading what I wrote below, I just want to say, “enough is enough!”
Yes, I've been suppressed very badly. What I experienced include:
1. My Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/jenniferzeng97, which has 284,562 followers was suddenly taken over by an account called “Fb portal” in early August. Since then I can’t post anything and this page became dead for me. I complained many times and Facebook never responded.
2. My Twitter account (https://twitter.com/jenniferatntd), which had 156,000+ followers about two months ago, has been suppressed ever since, and I've been losing 100-1000 followers every day, and now it's down to 150,900. Some people say they got unfollowed without their knowledge. Some say they can't see what I post even though they are following me.
3. I’ve been suppressed by YouTube too. Early this year, during the peak of the COVID 19 pandemic, my entire channel at bit.ly/3b87DPj was once demonetized. Later on, although YouTube reversed this decision, almost all my videos were given a yellow flag, which means “limited for ads”. Now, although there are not as many yellow flags, I am still being suppressed, and my subscriptions are dropping. People told me that they got unsubscribed, or they are not receiving notifications. Since I started talking about the US election, the views suddenly dropped dramatically. I seriously doubt these videos are being suppressed. Some viewers told me they even couldn’t like my videos, nor could they share them on Facebook.
4. I have been forced to censor myself for fear of being censored. For example, in the latest program about the US election（https://youtu.be/ju-IxkX1caw）, I dared not use “voter fraud”, but only vaguely said “problems in the voting system”, etc. I was afraid that the phrase “voter fraud” would be caught by YouTube’s AI system, so I have been avoiding “voter fraud” throughout the entire show.
In the U.S., where freedom of speech is supposed to be guaranteed, the situation is as ridiculous as this! When the Chinese Communist Party was cracking down on Falun Gong at its strongest, I still had the courage to write letters to the CCP leaders with my real name and address, and once planned to go to Tiananmen Square to display a Falun Gong banner (I ended up not going because I was arrested beforehand). At that time, I was willing to risk my life to defend what I believed to be the truth.
In the labor camp, which is as evil as a devil’s den, when the vicious police asked me to criticize Falun Gong, I always wrote about how wonderful Falun Gong is, and how it only benefits the nation and the people in an open and upright manner. I didn’t have fear then, as I didn’t care what they would do to me.
I never imagined that after 20 years, when I am in the United States, where freedom of speech is supposed to be ensured, I am actually practicing self-censorship-something I even did no in the CCP’s labor camp, as while I had no fear in the labor camp, I do have fear now: I was afraid if my accounts get deleted or suppressed, I will lose channels to spread the truth. Although there are alternative platforms, accumulating followers needs time. I don’t want to lose my current channels, which I have worked very hard to develop.
This is the reality of America now. Isn’t it sad?
___________________________
Jennifer Zeng is the author of Witnessing History: One Chinese Woman's Fight for Freedom, the subject of a documentary (Free China: The Courage to Believe), and a member of Potomac Tea Party’s spin-off Anticommunism Action Team Speakers Bureau
YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/3b87DPj
Website: https://www.jenniferzengblog.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jenniferatntd
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InconvenientTruthsbyJenniferZeng
Parler: https://parler.com/profile/JenniferZeng
Gab: https://gab.com/JenniferZeng
MeWe: https://mewe.com/i/jenniferzeng
by Jennifer Zeng
November 18, 2020
Originally published at Jennifer’s World
If someone says that the situation of free speech in the US is worse than in Communist China, perhaps nobody will believe it, including myself. However, after I wrote down the following statement of what I experienced in the US recently for an investigative reporter regarding social media’s censorship, I suddenly realized that I am practicing self-censorship "consciously and voluntarily" now, which I had surely not done before even in the forced labor camp in China!
After reading what I wrote below, I just want to say, “enough is enough!”
Yes, I've been suppressed very badly. What I experienced include:
1. My Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/jenniferzeng97, which has 284,562 followers was suddenly taken over by an account called “Fb portal” in early August. Since then I can’t post anything and this page became dead for me. I complained many times and Facebook never responded.
2. My Twitter account (https://twitter.com/jenniferatntd), which had 156,000+ followers about two months ago, has been suppressed ever since, and I've been losing 100-1000 followers every day, and now it's down to 150,900. Some people say they got unfollowed without their knowledge. Some say they can't see what I post even though they are following me.
3. I’ve been suppressed by YouTube too. Early this year, during the peak of the COVID 19 pandemic, my entire channel at bit.ly/3b87DPj was once demonetized. Later on, although YouTube reversed this decision, almost all my videos were given a yellow flag, which means “limited for ads”. Now, although there are not as many yellow flags, I am still being suppressed, and my subscriptions are dropping. People told me that they got unsubscribed, or they are not receiving notifications. Since I started talking about the US election, the views suddenly dropped dramatically. I seriously doubt these videos are being suppressed. Some viewers told me they even couldn’t like my videos, nor could they share them on Facebook.
4. I have been forced to censor myself for fear of being censored. For example, in the latest program about the US election（https://youtu.be/ju-IxkX1caw）, I dared not use “voter fraud”, but only vaguely said “problems in the voting system”, etc. I was afraid that the phrase “voter fraud” would be caught by YouTube’s AI system, so I have been avoiding “voter fraud” throughout the entire show.
In the U.S., where freedom of speech is supposed to be guaranteed, the situation is as ridiculous as this! When the Chinese Communist Party was cracking down on Falun Gong at its strongest, I still had the courage to write letters to the CCP leaders with my real name and address, and once planned to go to Tiananmen Square to display a Falun Gong banner (I ended up not going because I was arrested beforehand). At that time, I was willing to risk my life to defend what I believed to be the truth.
In the labor camp, which is as evil as a devil’s den, when the vicious police asked me to criticize Falun Gong, I always wrote about how wonderful Falun Gong is, and how it only benefits the nation and the people in an open and upright manner. I didn’t have fear then, as I didn’t care what they would do to me.
I never imagined that after 20 years, when I am in the United States, where freedom of speech is supposed to be ensured, I am actually practicing self-censorship-something I even did no in the CCP’s labor camp, as while I had no fear in the labor camp, I do have fear now: I was afraid if my accounts get deleted or suppressed, I will lose channels to spread the truth. Although there are alternative platforms, accumulating followers needs time. I don’t want to lose my current channels, which I have worked very hard to develop.
This is the reality of America now. Isn’t it sad?
___________________________
Jennifer Zeng is the author of Witnessing History: One Chinese Woman's Fight for Freedom, the subject of a documentary (Free China: The Courage to Believe), and a member of Potomac Tea Party’s spin-off Anticommunism Action Team Speakers Bureau
YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/3b87DPj
Website: https://www.jenniferzengblog.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jenniferatntd
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InconvenientTruthsbyJenniferZeng
Parler: https://parler.com/profile/JenniferZeng
Gab: https://gab.com/JenniferZeng
MeWe: https://mewe.com/i/jenniferzeng