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The World Health Organization removed social media filters that censored the words “Taiwan” and “China” from its Facebook page after an online backlash, but said the blocks were due to a “flood” of cyber attacks.
The radical change comes amid intense criticism for China’s continued blockade of Taiwan, which has gone more than 215 days without a local Covid-19 case, of participation in meetings of the decision-making body of the WHO, the World Health Assembly.
This week, Internet users began reporting that the WHO Facebook page would not allow comments that include the word Taiwan. The Guardian’s attempts to post comments found that it was also blocking the word “China.” The posters began to replace characters in the word to pass the censors, including “ⓉⒶⒾⓌⒶⓃ ⒸⒶⓃ ⒽⒺⓁⓅ”, or using the previous name of the island, “Formosa”.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said the blockade went against the neutrality that the WHO should uphold and expressed “strong regret and dissatisfaction”, but a WHO spokesperson said the measures were a “practical measure” that did not it reflected a value judgment. or politics.
“During the World Health Assembly, the WHO faces an onslaught of cyberattacks by online activists on a number of controversial issues, using keywords such as ‘Taiwan’ and ‘China,'” the spokesperson said.
The social media team applied filters as the “attack” hampered their ability to moderate conversations, he said. After the blockade was lifted, the WHO page was flooded with pro-Taiwan and anti-China messages.
The WHO’s history with Taiwan has been controversial, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. China, which considers Taiwan a rogue province and its government is separatist, has blocked its admission to the WHA despite increased international support for its inclusion.
Intense lobbying for Taiwan’s inclusion preceded a WHA meeting last week, but it remained excluded. The WHO maintains that any inclusion is a matter for the WHA member states to vote on.
Taipei says it has much to share with the global community given its success in preventing a major outbreak. It has reported around 580 Covid-19 cases in total, mostly imported and contained by the quarantine system, and only seven deaths.
