"The Site's Content Moderators Discovered 546 Nicknames, or 'Typos,' for Xi Jinping Over a Two-Month Period"

One of the many interesting items from today's post by Prof. Victor Mair (Language Log), quoting an article in China Digital Times:

A crackdown on "typos" used to spread "illegal and harmful information"… have illustrated the further narrowing of online speech in China ahead of the upcoming 20th Party Congress expected this fall.

Comments

[Bored Lawyer]

Ah, the joys of socialism.

[David Nieporent]

I'm as down on socialism as the next libertarian, but I'm pretty sure this story is about authoritarianism, not socialism.

[Bored Lawyer]

One often leads to the other. Like horses and flies.

[Sarcastr0]

Except for like most of Europe in the modern era.

[gormadoc]

Most of Europe isn't socialist and the only current socialist state in Europe is authoritarian.

[Michael D]

I would go further than David Nieporent and say socialism requires authoritarianism. Whether that authoritarian tendency comes in the form of a democracy or single-leader dictatorship matters not.

[RC]

I guess the grammar nazis are gonna be really real in China now.