
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.

“South” is a primary external propaganda brand of the South International Communication Center (南方國際傳播中心), or SICC, a state media organization under the Nanfang Media Group (南方報業傳媒集團), officially launched on July 3, 2025. “South” is a rebranding of its predecessor, “GDToday,” which was established in November 2023. The brand, which has a presence on most overseas social media platforms, is both a reference to Guangdong as a southern province, and an awkward acronym for “Service, Orientation, Unity, Tellers and Horizon,” in with “tellers” is a reference to Xi Jinping’s injunction to “tell China’s story well.”
