Even content typed into a word processor that was never made public cannot escape China's censorship. https://t.co/WsjG4Q30Pf

— Selina Cheng (@selina_cheng) July 16, 2022

HONG KONG—At noon on June 25, aspiring Chinese writer Miffy Gu navigated as she often did to an immense online document she used to store unpublished chapters of her serialized novel and clicked on it with her mouse. /1

— simonthong aka kitty poo (@KittyPo80176717) July 16, 2022

Rather than open the file, Ms. Gu’s writing software presented her with a warning message: “This document may contain forbidden content. Access has been suspended.”

“I freaked out,” Ms. Gu said. “I had written more than a million words, and now I couldn’t open it.” /3

— simonthong aka kitty poo (@KittyPo80176717) July 16, 2022

During the next few days, Ms. Gu’s panic turned to anger as she wrestled with Kingsoft Office, maker of the software, to regain control of her work. /5

— simonthong aka kitty poo (@KittyPo80176717) July 16, 2022