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AlibabaChinese government ordered domestic media to restrict Alibaba antitrust coverage and censor Jack Ma reporting

In January 2021, China's propaganda arm ordered news outlets to strictly echo official line on Alibaba's antitrust probe, prohibiting original reporting and extended analysis. The restrictions also applied to coverage of Jack Ma. State directive required media to limit reporting on regulatory actions against the company.

Scoring Impact

TopicDirectionRelevanceContribution
Authoritarian Compliance+towardsecondary-0.50
Open Internet & Web Freedom-againstsecondary-0.50
Overall incident score =-0.029

Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.57)× agency (incidental ×0.1)

Evidence (1 signal)

Confirms Policy Change Jan 8, 2021 documented

China's propaganda arm ordered media to restrict Alibaba coverage

In January 2021, government directive ordered news outlets to strictly echo official line on antitrust probe, prohibiting original reporting and extended analysis. Restrictions also applied to Jack Ma coverage.

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