Thread by @WilliamYang120

"The Chinese government censorship seriously marred the 2022 #BeijingWinterOlympics, and the @iocmedia and corporate sponsors have not spoken out about the government’s human rights record or used their leverage to press for rights improvements." hrw.org/news/2022/02/1…

“The full spectrum of the Chinese government’s rights abuses continued throughout the Beijing Games, whether crimes against humanity in Xinjiang or censorship in the Olympic Village,” said @Yaqiu.

“Through their silence, the IOC and its corporate partners have been complicit in Beijing’s efforts to ‘sportswash’ human rights violations before a global audience.”

The Chinese government’s censorship apparatus intensified during the Olympics, Human Rights Watch said. During the opening ceremonies on February 4, Chinese authorities dragged away Dutch reporter @sjoerddendaas as he was delivering a live report to NOS.

"While the IOC claimed the incident was an “isolated event,” den Daas said that reporters had been “repeatedly obstructed or stopped by the police” while covering the Games. Finnish cross-country skier Katri Lylynpera said that Chinese officials asked her to delete photos ...

... she had posted on Instagram showing water flooding in an Olympic Village building."

"On the Chinese internet, censors took down a screenshot of a comment made by US-born Chinese gold medalist Eileen Gu on Instagram. In that post, Gu, who is immensely popular in China, asserted that a VPN workaround for the Chinese internet is “literally free” in App Store."

"Chinese authorities continued to stringently censor content regarding Olympian and tennis star Peng Shuai, who, in November, made a sexual assault allegation against former vice premier Zhang Gaoli."

"NBC, the exclusive United States broadcaster for the Games, faced criticism for not adequately reporting on human rights violations in the country or providing the political context in which the Games were unfolding."

"In response to a letter from Human Rights Watch in November, NBC said it stands “for press access and freedom globally” and would “resist any efforts to impede [its] access.” "

"The IOC also did not take adequate steps to ensure that the uniforms and other products it produced for the Games were free of links to grave rights violations in Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch said."

"An IOC statement describing human rights due diligence it conducted on suppliers was released only weeks before the Games began and contained significant gaps, including lack of analysis of suppliers’ responsible sourcing practices."

"Since awarding the 2008 Summer Olympics to Beijing, the IOC has never used its leverage to press the Chinese government to respect human rights."

“The 2022 Winter Olympics helped cement the human rights violations the Chinese government first introduced during the 2008 Games,” Wang said. “This should be the end game for abusive Olympics hosts.”