◎盧永山
Beijing’s intensified censorship campaign is increasingly obscuring signs of social unrest, according to China Dissent Monitor, resulting in a sharp drop in documented protests.
根據「中國異言網」的報告，北京當局強化審查的舉措，正日益掩蓋社會動盪的跡象，導致登記在案的抗議活動大幅下降。
The project operated by US advocacy group Freedom House recorded 846 protest events last quarter, down 45% from a year earlier. In a report published on Thursday, it also estimated a 50% drop between March and June in protest-related posts on social media platform Douyin.
由美國倡議組織「自由之家」運作的上述計畫，今年第2季記錄到846起抗議事件，比去年同期減少45％。在週四發布的1份報告中，該計畫也估計，在今年3月至6月期間，社群媒體平台「抖音」上與抗議有關的貼文數量大減50％。
Researchers attributed much of that decline to a crackdown on online information that began earlier this year ahead of the annual political meetings of China’s rubber-stamp legislature.
研究人員將抗議事件和貼文大幅減少，主要歸因於今年稍早，在中國作為橡皮圖章的立法機關年度政治會議前夕，針對網路訊息所展開的打壓行動。
新聞辭典
obscure：形容詞，費解的、鮮為人知的、模糊的；動詞，掩蓋。例句：Ted’s answers were obscure and confusing.（泰德的回答模糊不清，令人費解。）
rubber-stamp：名詞，橡皮圖章；動詞，例行公事般地批准。例句：The president makes the decisions and the committee just rubber-stamps them.（主席作決定，委員會只會照例批准。）
