Chinese protestors are holding up blank pieces of paper as a protest against censorship, leading platforms and censors to quickly remove the images
Protesters are using few or no words in public and online demonstrations to speak out against Beijing's zero-Covid policies
Wall Street Journal
Context & Ripple Effects
The blank-paper demonstrations follow a year in which Shanghai residents' critical posts overwhelmed censors during lockdown outrage and authorities suspended thousands of WeChat accounts after a rare Beijing protest. Protesters had also used AirDrop to circulate anti-Xi posters, an alternative channel when public platforms were tightly controlled.
The episode matters because the protest symbol itself contains little textual material to moderate, yet platforms and censors are moving to remove its images. Later debate over the end of zero-COVID similarly challenged efforts to control the social-media narrative.
First-order effects
Chinese platforms and censors must identify and remove visual protest signals, extending enforcement beyond text posts and named accounts.
Protesters lose visibility on public and online channels as blank-paper images are removed, while the demonstrations retain a message understood without written slogans.
Second-order effects
The earlier use of AirDrop gives protesters a precedent for shifting circulation away from heavily moderated public platforms when account suspensions and image removal intensify.
Platforms face a broader moderation task: enforcement aimed at posts and accounts must also distinguish politically charged imagery from otherwise blank content.
Third-order effects
Repeated shifts from text posts to posters, file-sharing, and minimal visual symbols point to a continuing contest in which censorship expands across formats while dissent adapts its distribution methods.
As zero-COVID policy becomes a subject of public argument, narrative control depends increasingly on moderating context and circulation rather than simply blocking explicit criticism.
The trend: China's censorship system is being pushed from text-and-account enforcement toward cross-format control as protesters use harder-to-classify symbols and distribution channels.
This is now on Wulumuqi (=Urumqi) lu in #Shanghai. People holding up white sheets of paper. 'We don't need to write anything on it. It is a symbol of the revolution of the people', someone says. (Don't manage to send videos.) https://twitter.com/...
Tsinghua university right now👇🏼 city after city seeing protests small and large against Zero Covid policies and against excesses of Communist Party rule - every hour there seems to be a new one https://twitter.com/...
A user in Zhejiang posted a photo of a box of A4 white printing paper, along with the caption: “I heard this item was recently sold out. #A4 #white paper #coronavirus #freedom.” https://www.wsj.com/...
On China's social media platforms, internet police are targeting blank sheets of white paper, rushing to remove images of people holding up the empty pages after protesters made them a symbol of zero-Covid frustration. @lizalinwsj @_KarenHao https://www.wsj.com/...
Another widely circulated video shows a female student chanting ‘no more oral sex for authorities from now on’. It's reportedly one of the ‘blank paper protests’ among universities in China. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Students of #Tsinghua Uni holding blank papirs and singing International anthem during the demonstration, #Beijing, #China, 27th Nov, 2022 CN students used this anthem as their protest song in #Tiananmen in 1989. Xi's ego will not allow this. Brutal oppressions are coming. https:…
As the number of protesters grows, police cordon some of the areas and warn of possible violation of social distancing rule, meanwhile filming the participants. https://twitter.com/...
“Internet users showed solidarity by posting blank white squares or photos of themselves holding blank sheets of paper on their WeChat timelines or on Weibo. By Sunday morning, the hashtag ‘white paper exercise’ was blocked on Weibo.” https://www.reuters.com/...
You'll notice anti-#ZeroCovid protestors holding blank sheets of paper in #China. This is not only a statement about dissent being silenced here, it's also an up yours to the authorities, as if to say 'Are you going to arrest me for holding a sign saying nothing?". https://twitte…
Record cases, rare protests. What an anti-climax for Xi Jinping! The world failed to punish him for exporting the Wuhan Virus. The Communist Party gave him a third term in office with “unlimited power.” Now the people of China are challenging him with sheets of blank paper.Bravo!
Extraordinary thread. Note the blank pieces of paper. A symbol of defiance against CCP tyranny. Started in Hong Kong (below) now spread throughout China. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
1/ At 2pm on Monday, this Douyin user put up a video with images of blank white printing paper, with the caption: “I heard this item would be out of stock recently. #A4 #WhitePaper #coronavirus #freedom” — how China tried to censor protest videos. W/@_KarenHao https://twitter.com…
Blank sheets were also used in Hong Kong protests. Perhaps more people than we realise have always understood that Hong Kong's fight is China's fight https://twitter.com/...
In Hong Kong, CUHK students hand out blank pieces of paper in support of protests in mainland China. Banner is in memory of those who died in the Xinjiang fire on Thursday. https://twitter.com/...
A4 Revolution: Blank pieces of white paper become iconic symbol for protests in China as citizens revolt against COVID lockdowns and government censorship. https://www.bbc.com/... https://twitter.com/...
“By holding up blank sheets of paper, protesters reasoned they couldn't be accused of expressing any messages deemed to be secessionist.” https://www.bloomberg.com/...
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT Video footage shows police in Shanghai carrying away a protester who was holding up a blank whiteboard in protest over China's stringent COVID restrictions https://www.reuters.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Confirmation on this is pending, but it appears China has banned A4 paper (?!) after protestors in Shanghai used blank pages to protest. Earlier this year Russian protestors against the invasion also used blank postersn, stating “the people know what its about.” https://twitter.c…
Blank sheets of paper have become an iconic item during China Covid protests Many are now referring to the movement as the “white paper revolution” or the “A4 revolution” Follow latest ⬇️
Due to the Rising Unrest that has been reported within multiple Chinese Cities, the Shanghai Chenguang Stationary Company has announced that beginning tonight the sale of A4 Printer Paper will halted to “maintain National Security/Stability and prevent its use in Illegal Acts”. h…