Partnership Between Academic Publisher and Chinese Internet Giant Raises Questions on Academic Freedom

Springer Nature and Tencent Holdings deal leads to censorship of what Beijing calls 'sensitive' topics

A woman reading a book at a bookstore in Beijing on Nov. 7, 2017. Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images

The partnership between a Chinese internet company and a German publisher of journals mainly focusing on scientific research has raised concerns that the Chinese regime will use the Western company to speak on its behalf, while censoring information it objects to.

On Nov. 4, Tencent Holdings Ltd., a Chinese conglomerate providing internet and telecommunications services, and Springer Nature, a publisher of academic research journals, announced a partnership, in which the two will promote science together and help young scientists, according to the Chinese regime’s mouthpiece newspaper People’s Daily.