Tibet Flood Images Disappear from Chinese Internet, Foreign Media Cite Information Control as Obstacle to Independent Verification

Tibet Flood Images Disappear from Chinese Internet, Foreign Media Cite Information Control as Obstacle to Independent Verification

ABC reported on August 29 that some videos and reports of the Tibet floods have disappeared from the Chinese internet after being posted, and foreign journalists' applications to enter the disaster area have been rejected, making it difficult for the outside world to independently verify the local disaster situation.

After a severe glacier collapse and flood occurred in the Nepal-Tibet border area, some videos and reports showing the disaster situation on the Tibetan side appeared on the Chinese internet and then quickly disappeared. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on August 29 that China's restrictions on news interviews in Tibet and internet information control have made it difficult for the outside world to independently verify the local disaster situation, and have also limited the communication between the affected residents and the outside world.

The image shows the flood and mudslide hitting the border area on the Tibetan side. The picture was extracted from the ABC report page, which originally marked the source as Reuters/China Daily.

Disaster videos appear and then disappear

ABC reported that a surveillance video showed a large amount of ice, mud, and floodwater hitting the Tibetan border port to Nepal, and many people were fleeing in a hurry. The video was once an important on-site material for the outside world to understand the severity of the disaster, but later became difficult to find on the Chinese internet.

ABC analyzed this phenomenon in the context of China's long-existing internet censorship system. The report pointed out that the media and social platforms within China are strictly regulated, and content that does not meet the official information management requirements may be restricted or deleted.

It needs to be distinguished that ABC confirmed the phenomenon of related videos disappearing from the Chinese internet, but currently, there is no public disclosure of specific deletion orders for each disaster video or distress message, so it cannot be concluded that all related content was directly deleted by a government department.

Foreign media's application to enter Tibet for interviews is rejected

ABC's China-based journalist Allyson Horn said in the report that after the disaster, she had formally applied to enter the Tibet disaster area for interviews several times, including independent interviews and participating in official organized interview trips, but was not approved.

According to her account, the Chinese foreign affairs department gave the reason that the local entry conditions were difficult and there was a risk of subsequent disasters. ABC also pointed out that other foreign journalists' requests to enter the disaster area for interviews were also rejected.

Although the damage to roads, communication disruptions, and the risk of secondary disasters after the disaster may limit journalists' access, ABC believes that these objective difficulties cannot fully explain the long-term restrictions on foreign journalists' access to Tibet. The report cited Human Rights Watch's data, saying that Beijing has strictly restricted foreign journalists' free access to Tibet since 2007.

Aerial photo of the damaged area after the flood and mudslide in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The picture was extracted from the ABC report page, which originally marked the source as Reuters/PLA Tibet Military District/Handout.

Limited disclosure of personal information on the Tibetan side

ABC said that the Chinese authorities confirmed that 558 people were missing on the Tibetan side, including 260 foreigners, but did not further disclose the nationality composition of the foreign missing persons or provide detailed information about the affected villages and residents.

In contrast, the Nepalese side has continuously released more specific data on missing tourists, travel groups, and nationalities, and has allowed foreign journalists to enter the country to interview survivors and families of the missing. ABC believes that there is a significant difference in the degree of information disclosure between the two disaster areas.

China's major official media have focused on reporting the number of rescue personnel, road repairs, and disaster relief deployments. The report also mentioned that some smaller Chinese media had entered the disaster area and published interviews with local eyewitnesses, but the relevant articles were taken down a few hours later.

Human rights organizations are concerned about the impact of information control on seeking help

The International Campaign for Tibet told ABC that due to concerns about being punished by the authorities, some Tibetan residents may not dare to post unapproved disaster and distress information on social media. The organization believes that in natural disasters, if information about the location of the trapped, missing persons, and road damage cannot be freely disseminated, it may affect the family members and rescue personnel's access to critical information.

This is a judgment made by human rights organizations based on long-term observations, and it is currently impossible to attribute the reason for individual residents' failure to post or the disappearance of posts entirely to the threat of government punishment.

ABC also said that it saw some Chinese netizens seeking help from outside China on social media, hoping to obtain information that cannot be accessed on the Chinese mainland internet. One netizen tried to understand the situation of a relative working on a construction site in the disaster area and later learned from overseas information that the construction site had been severely damaged.

The issue of information disclosure in disasters

The Chinese authorities stated that they have mobilized a large number of forces to carry out search and rescue operations and emphasized the complexity of the road and on-site conditions. As for why foreign journalists are still unable to independently enter the disaster area, and why some disaster videos and reports have disappeared from the Chinese internet, the Beijing side had not provided a more complete public explanation as of the time of the ABC report.

What can be confirmed at present is that the severe flood and mudslide have caused a large number of people to go missing; ABC journalists themselves have been rejected multiple times when applying to enter the Tibet disaster area for interviews; some on-site videos and Chinese media reports have become inaccessible after being published; and the disclosure of information about missing persons and specific affected communities on the Tibetan side is significantly limited.

As for the specific censorship mechanism behind each piece of deleted content, the source of the deletion order, and whether information control has directly affected specific rescue operations, more public documents and independent evidence are needed for verification.

"Focus on China" will continue to track the data on personnel missing in the disaster area, the access of foreign journalists, the phenomenon of deleted internet content, and the subsequent responses of relevant human rights organizations and the Chinese authorities.