2 plead guilty in case highlighting China's online control

Two amateur computer coders have pleaded guilty to “stirring up trouble and picking quarrels” in a case that highlighted a growing Chinese government crackdown on online activity

BEIJING -- Two amateur computer coders pleaded guilty Tuesday to “stirring up trouble and picking quarrels" in a case that highlighted a growing Chinese government crackdown on online activity. Chen Mei, 28, and Cai Wei, 27, created an online archive that stored articles that had been censored from the Chinese internet, and an accompanying forum that allowed people to discuss them anonymously. In court, prosecutors zeroed in on 2049bbs, the forum accompanying the archive. They said Cai was responsible for building a website that had insulted the government, and Chen had paid for it, Chen’s mother, Wei Xiuwen, told reporters outside the court. Family and friends believe what got them in trouble was archiving articles showing an alternative to China’s official narrative about its coronavirus response just as the country started facing questions over its handling of the initial outbreak.