Fact Check: Did China Blur Out World Cup Crowds to Hide Maskless Fans?

Since the start of the soccer World Cup, rumors have began circulating that non mask-wearing spectators and unrestrained fan celebrations have been "Blurred" out of Chinese state TV broadcasts of the competition, in an attempt to quell domestic frustrations. The tweet about censorship of World Cup matches has received tens of thousands of engagements since it was first published. The claim was repeated on CNBC's Squawk Box; Beijing bureau chief Eunice Yoon said that World Cup audiences were "Being blurred... because they're not wearing masks" and that "In the past several days throughout the World Cup people here have been asking and complaining on social media about how people outside of China seem to be not wearing masks." Based on other information shared online and on social media, it appears that China is not censoring its World Cup streams, at least not on all of its state broadcast television services. State-run Chinese news outlets have also not censored photographs of audience members, further weakening the claim that the government is trying to hide the move away from Covid restrictions around the world. While there remains a possibility that matches were censored, based on the evidence seen by Newsweek of uncensored matches on Chinese state television, Chinese social media and other Chinese media outlets, it seems unlikely that China's government is censoring World Cup footage in its broadcasts. Although it's entirely possible that Chinese state television could have blurred World Cup game footage, Newsweek has not been able to verify the authenticity of the viral video used to promote this claim.