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Since the start of the soccer World Cup, rumors have began circulating that non mask-wearing spectators and unrestrained fan celebrations have been “blurred” out of Chinese state TV broadcasts of the competition, in an attempt to quell domestic frustrations.

The Claim

A tweet, posted on November 23, 2022 by the @WallStreetSIlver account, claimed that “Chinese media” has blurred spectators at the FIFA World Cup because “They don’t want Chinese people to know that people in other countries don’t wear masks anymore …”

The claim, and the accompanying video, have been shared by other users, including Igor Sushko, the executive director of the Wind of Change Research Group, a Washington-based non-profit organization.

The Facts

The tweet about censorship of World Cup matches has received tens of thousands of engagements since it was first published.

The claim was repeated on CNBC’s Squawk Box; Beijing bureau chief Eunice Yoon said that World Cup audiences were “being blurred… because they’re not wearing masks” and that “in the past several days throughout the World Cup people here have been asking and complaining on social media about how people outside of China seem to be not wearing masks.”

“So, interesting that we’re starting to see the audiences getting blurred,” she added.

The claim was not supported with evidence beyond Yoon’s account.

Newsweek has so far been unable to independently verify or find the source of the “blur” video. But, based on other information shared online and on social media, it appears that China is not censoring its World Cup streams, at least not on all of its state broadcast television services.

Multiple Twitter users responded to the claim about censoring, putting in question its authenticity with screen grabs and other streams showing games broadcast without any censorship.

Full streams available on Weibo show no such censoring either, neither does there appear to be censoring on Chinese social media platform Douyin (a subsidiary of which is owned by the Chinese government).

The effect in the video shared on Twitter isn’t consistent either. At one point, where the camera zooms into focus on a goal celebration, the audience background is briefly unblurred.

State-run Chinese news outlets have also not censored photographs of audience members, further weakening the claim that the government is trying to hide the move away from Covid restrictions around the world.

While it is possible to place a blur on a live match (particularly in China, where television broadcasts delays have been used to ensure censorship efforts), and the underlying claim thus cannot be dismissed as false, there is plenty of evidence undermining the notion of a systemic effort to censor soccer coverage.

The effect referenced in the tweet could have been applied to post-match coverage, but equally it could also be the product of digital editing that was added to broadcast footage before it was published.

Separately, Newsweek has been unable to verify why the blur effect has been applied, and by whom. Even if state censors were involved, hiding maskless audience members could be just one of several explanations—for example, it might also be over copyright concerns or broadcasting permissions.

So, while there remains a possibility that matches were censored, based on the evidence seen by Newsweek of uncensored matches on Chinese state television, Chinese social media and other Chinese media outlets, it seems unlikely that China’s government is censoring World Cup footage in its broadcasts.

Newsweek has contacted CNBC for comment.

The Ruling

Unverified.

Although it’s entirely possible that Chinese state television could have blurred World Cup game footage, Newsweek has not been able to verify the authenticity of the viral video used to promote this claim.

Additionally, there are multiple examples, including clips and screengrabs of state TV, that indicate broadcast that have not been censored.

There are also regular broadcasts on Chinese social media and articles in state-owned newspapers that clearly show audience members, which appears to contradict the narrative about purported attempts to hide the lack of Covid restrictions in other countries.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team