CHINA — As the Middle Kingdom continues to struggle controlling the narrative behind their latest gift to the world, it's now going after critics.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
According to Vice, 28-year-old Chinese entrepreneur Joshua Left, from the city that shall remain nameless, arrived in San Fran in mid-January as the you-know-what was just blowing up.
Worried about his family back home, he started sharing information most likely not available in lovely China over his WeChat.
Left told Vice that he then received a warning message from WeChat administrators.
Then he started getting really specific messages from four WeChat friends, all asking him for his location, what hotel he was staying at in S.F., what his room number was, and what his U.S. phone number was.
He then said his phone got a warning message that someone in Shanghai was trying to log into his account.
When he refused, the same four WeChat friends then simultaneously began telling him to immediately come back to China.
According to Left, he thinks his friends were probably forced by agents from the Ministry of State Security to try and get Left to give up his location.
It appears to be a part of a much wider effort by Beijing to crack down on people sharing real information about the you-know-whatever-19.
Well, that's comforting.