China
China Mortgage Protests Face Zealous Online
Censorship
July 21,
2022
Angry homebuyers have resorted to physical protests as
well as a threatened boycott of mortgages due to hundreds of unfinished housing
projects
Debris near
towers built for China Fortune Land Development, in Zhuozhou, Hebei province.
Regulators have encouraged banks to extend loans to Chinese developers for
projects, and districts - including in Henan province, where protests began,
and the city of Chongqing - have set up task forces. File photo: Reuters.
Zealous internet
censors are working to delete and erase images and videos of protests over
mortgage payments as Chinese developers face a widening property crisis.
Angry
homebuyers have resorted to physical protests as well as a threatened boycott
of mortgages due to hundreds of unfinished housing projects.
While
regulators seek to reassure residents that their issues will be resolved,
censors have stepped up their removal of social media messages, including
videos of demonstrations against Chinese developers and lenders.
The
protests have erupted at a sensitive time for Beijing as Chinese leader Xi
Jinping is expected to secure a third leadership term at the 20th Communist
Party Congress later this year.
Social
stability is crucial ahead of the meeting and in a bid to appease protesters
and contain the crisis, regulators and local governments have stepped up
efforts to reassure critics that projects will be completed.
Regulators
have encouraged banks to extend loans to Chinese developers for projects, and
districts – including in Henan province, where protests began, and the city of
Chongqing – have set up task forces.
Testing Social Media Companies
But
mounting turmoil over uncompleted developments is testing Chinese social media
companies, which are subject to strict laws requiring them to censor content
that “undermines social stability” or is critical of the central government.
One video
showing homebuyers declaring a boycott on mortgage payments was blocked on
Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, according to saved images shown to
Reuters by a protester.
The social
media platform said “the content didn’t pass scrutiny”.
A protester
in the city of Zhengzhou in Henan province said a video about the mortgage
boycott that he uploaded via Douyin was among the top trending items at one
point.
But he
added that such videos could no longer be uploaded or found on the platform.
A mortgage
protester in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province, said his videos of mortgage
protests on Douyin were also censored.
Reuters, with additional editing by George
Russell
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