The Record Was Replaced

On November 2, 2021, Peng Shuai put an allegation on Weibo: She said Zhang Gaoli had sexually assaulted her. The post did not remain in public view. Several accounts placed its removal shortly after publication, while ProPublica reported that Chinese censors moved within about twenty minutes to scrub the accusation and related references from the internet.

The response quickly became a campaign to establish a different public record. Discussion of Peng's allegation was censored, and Chinese state-media-linked accounts on Twitter promoted the message that she was fine. CGTN released a screenshot of an email saying Peng was resting at home and was not unsafe. The images, videos, and email were presented as coming from Peng, but contemporaneous reporting questioned their authenticity.

The WTA said Chinese officials had been given the opportunity to end the censorship and investigate the allegation in a full, fair, and transparent manner. Instead, the official answer remained narrow. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Peng's case was not a foreign affairs matter. The allegation was reported, the censorship was visible, and the public assurances did not resolve either question.

Steve Simon, the WTA's chief executive, said he had a hard time believing Peng had actually written the email attributed to her by Chinese state media. His statement did not establish that the message was forged. It showed the problem the tour said it faced: A communication presented as proof that Peng was safe could not, by itself, demonstrate that she was speaking freely or that her allegation could be examined openly.

On December 1, the WTA suspended all its tournaments in mainland China and Hong Kong, tying the tour's presence there to its concerns about Peng's situation. The move converted a censored post and disputed assurances into an institutional choice. The tour would give up its events in those markets rather than accept the public record being supplied in Peng's place.