Viral content: vaccine scandal tests Beijing’s grip on information control

People gather at the gate of Changchun Changsheng Bio-technology Co Ltd, the Chinese vaccine maker, in Changchun, China July 26, 2018. REUTERS/Philip Wen

SHANGHAI/BEIJING: A Chinese vaccine scandal has laid bare a new challenge Beijing faces in its long-running battle for information control: blogs and online articles by independent writers capable of unleashing a storm of public fury.

The outrage over safety lapses by Changsheng Bio-technology Co Ltd in some of its vaccines for children came six days after the issue was flagged in regulatory filings, triggered instead by a July 21 article posted on the popular WeChat messaging platform.