Refinitiv blocks Reuters stories on Tiananmen

Refinitiv took the action to block the stories last week after the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which controls online speech, threatened to suspend the company’s service in China if it did not comply, three people with knowledge of the decision told Reuters.

Refinitiv’s intention was to block the distribution of the stories only in China, two people familiar with the matter said. However, users outside China also said they could not see the stories. It was not clear why.

Refinitiv was formed last year when Reuters parent company Thomson Reuters sold a 55 per cent stake in its financial & risk (F&R) terminals and data division to investors led by private equity firm Blackstone.

“Refinitiv is a financial markets news and data provider in China. We are proud of the role we play in the world to facilitate transparent and efficient financial markets,” the company said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

“As a global business, we comply with all our local regulatory obligations, including the requirements of our license to operate in China.”

Refinitiv has a licence to provide financial information in China. A person familiar with the matter said the terms have not changed since the company was established, but enforcement has become more stringent.

In an internal memo to staff, Reuters president Michael Friedenberg and editor-in-chief Stephen Adler said the news organisation had spoken to Refinitiv and expressed its concern. They urged staff to “continue reporting as you always would: to pursue the truth, without fear or favor.” Refinitiv is headed by David Craig, a former Reuters executive who now serves as chief executive and a board member of the new business formed last October.

Reuters spokesman David Crundwell said in a statement that Reuters “reports around the world in a fair, unbiased and independent manner, in keeping with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles, and we stand by our China coverage.”

“We continue to provide Refinitiv with the same scope of content that we always have, including stories relating to China, and Refinitiv’s decisions will not affect the breadth or quality of our coverage. We remain committed to telling the stories that matter.”

Reuters said the CAC did not respond to a faxed request for comment. Since Friday, at least nine Reuters stories, all with the word Tiananmen in the headline, have vanished from the scrolling news feed on Eikon terminals. While some affected stories had been restored, others remained missing for users in China and elsewhere on Monday.

Reuters supplies news to Refinitiv under a 30-year agreement that pays Reuters a minimum of $325 million per year, making Refinitiv its largest customer. Reuters also provides news for media and digital clients.

The transmission of Reuters stories on Tiananmen to other media organisations and to the Reuters website was not affected by the Refinitiv action.

Reuters website has been blocked in China since 2015. The sites of many foreign news outlets are also off-limits in China, as are major US digital media platforms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter.

This is a sensitive year for the Chinese leadership, with the Tiananmen anniversary on Tuesday and the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in October, Reuters reported.

The Tiananmen crackdown remains a taboo subject in China, three decades after the government sent troops and tanks to quell student-led protests calling for democratic reforms. Beijing has never released a death toll but estimates from human rights groups and witnesses range from several hundred to the thousands.

The blocked Reuters stories on Eikon included one based on remarks made by China’s defence minister on Sunday at a forum in Singapore defending the Tiananmen crackdown, and another on Taiwan’s call on Monday for China to “repent” for Tiananmen.

There was no customer notice to subscribers posted on Eikon.

Despite the blockage, Reuters stories removed from Eikon’s scrolling news feed could still be found if users deployed certain search functions. ■