#Elle shimo software#

All internet service providers are obligated to delete and block content on their platform “upon discovering information that the law or administrative regulations prohibit the publication or transmission of,” says Article 47 of the law. Users might not be happy but WPS’s practice of reviewing all user documents (if that’s what’s happening) is likely permitted by China’s Cybersecurity Law, says Nunlist. Until this month, most Chinese users believed that their own files, circulated only among friends and family, wouldn’t receive the same attention and monitoring as long as they remained obscure. It took the doc-sharing platform Shimo almost 10 hours to notice and censor the effort. For example, in 2020, a Chinese artist known as Jianguo Xiongdi invited the public to contribute to a document listing all the words deemed sensitive in China. Only creating a sharing link for the document triggers the review mechanism.”Įven for Chinese internet users, used to tough censorship laws, this seems like a step too far.Īs document-sharing platforms become mainstream in China, censorship has not been unheard of, but it usually happens only after a document has been widely shared and viewed. But a comment left by WPS’s customer service account on Weibo on July 13 seems to confirm that hypothesis: “Syncing and storing it on cloud won’t trigger the reviews. WPS has not officially confirmed whether it is the act of sharing work that triggers the algorithmic censors. I’ve renewed it for several years but I’m feeling terrified now,” one user wrote. “Can you guarantee you won’t view our documents? If you can, I’ll keep using it If you can’t, I’ll ask for a refund for my membership. Kingsoft did not respond to MIT Technology Review’s request for comment.Ĭommenting beneath WPS’s latest statement on Weibo, users want answers. “All platforms that provide online information services are responsible for reviewing the content that’s being spread on their platforms,” a July 13 statement says, citing China’s Cybersecurity Law and other relevant regulations. But the company remains vague about what it does to files shared online.

#Elle shimo software#

The firm has released two statements since the initial complaint, clarifying that the software does not censor locally stored files.