<
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-18/china-livestreamer-austin-li-censored-over-tiananmen-massacre/101160890>
"For Austin Li's millions of fans, the evening of June 3 started like any of
his other live stream sales events on Taobao, the biggest e-commerce platform
in China.
On this particular night, he was selling an ice cream believed to be Viennetta,
an iconic and beloved Australian sweet.
As traffic peaked on the live stream, Li's staff member presented the ice cream
adorned with what appeared to be five Oreo cookies, a Ferrero chocolate and a
chocolate roll.
The cake was curiously shaped like an armoured tank.
As Li's co-host took the plate from the staff, Li looked at the cake, smiling.
All of a sudden, the stream was switched off.
As fans waited for it to be reconnected, Li posted an apology on Chinese social
media Weibo, claiming the team was "having a technical issue."
He then made another post, announcing the termination of the live event.
That was the last time Li's fans heard from him.
What Li and his fans didn't know at the time was that the sweet, creamy
tank-like ice cream cake had triggered Beijing's special censorship system
tailored for the 1989 Tiananmen Square anniversary on June 4.
China's Government is extremely sensitive to any allusion to the iconic image
of a man standing in front of a column of tanks during the student-led protest
movement.
To this day, the photo — and anything referring to the massacre that followed —
is banned in China."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
