China: Uyghurs face ban on using social media apps

The Xinjiang authorities have banned Uyghurs from using social media apps such as TikTok and tools to bypass censorship, RFA reported yesterday.

The ban was announced in a video by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, with violators facing arrest, a hefty fine, and a deduction in their social credit score, the source added.

It mentioned that people are forbidden from using Twitter, YouTube, and Bitcoin, and authorities are also warning against using VPNs and foreign websites.

The latest ban has raised concerns of another crackdown on the region’s Uyghur population.

It came after a special meeting recently convened by Xinjiang’s Communist Party Committee, which stressed the need for “strictly maintaining secrecy related to Xinjiang.”

According to news reports, China has amassed comprehensive information on Uyghurs in a large database and can monitor and track them around the clock.

Some activists believe China is putting efforts to conceal the ethnic genocide in the Uyghur region by tightly controlling information and punishing Uyghurs arbitrarily.