China Shows Us How to Handle Twitter Nuisances

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The Wall Street Journal reports that people in Wuhan are bitter about how authorities handled the coronavirus last year:

There are signs that authorities are rattled by the initial outpouring of anger in Wuhan, where people suffered the worst horrors of the pandemic. Censors have clamped down on criticism of the early response. A citizen journalist who covered the pandemic in Wuhan, Zhang Zhan, was sentenced to four years in prison in December after being accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”

Welp, that would be one way to handle our Twitter and Facebook problem. Half the people who use them would be in prison.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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