
X Marks the Spot
Elon Musk’s new messaging app was built with Chinese users in mind. It was censored before it ever reached them, with related news coverage from state media also pulled down.

The Chongqing Daily News Group was established on October 18, 2001, as the official media arm of the Chongqing Municipal Communist Party Committee. Its flagship publication, Chongqing Daily (重慶日報), was founded on August 5, 1952, with then-party leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) personally calligraphing the masthead and providing an inscription during his tenure as Southwest Bureau Secretary. The group claims to have expanded from three newspapers before Chongqing’s designation as a centrally-administered municipality to a conglomerate encompassing 15 newspapers, 3 magazines, 15 websites, and over 20 commercial subsidiaries. While positioning itself as implementing “dual-wheel drive” combining “news undertakings and business operations,” the organization functions as a state propaganda apparatus under party directives rather than as an independent journalistic enterprise, reflecting the broader structure of Chinese state media where editorial control remains subordinate to political objectives.
