China Suspends Social Media Accounts Of COVID Policy Critics

BEIJING (AP) – China has suspended or closed the social media accounts of more than 1,000 critics of the government’s policies on the COVID-19 outbreak, as the country moves to further open up. The popular Sina Weibo social media platform said it had addressed 12,854 violations including attacks on experts, scholars and medical workers and issued temporary or permanent bans on 1,120 accounts. The ruling Communist Party has largely relied on the medical community to justify its harsh lockdowns, quarantine measures and mass testing, almost all of which it abruptly abandoned last month, leading to a further surge in cases that have stretched medical resources to the limit. The party allows no direct criticism and imposes strict limits on free speech.