The Human Rights Watch , an international advocacy group , states that `` there is considerable misinformation on Chinese social media and authorities have legitimate reasons to counter false information that can cause public panic , '' but has also noted incidents where censorship by the authorities has included social media posted by families of infected people who were potentially seeking help as well as by people living in cordoned cities allegedly only documenting their daily lives amidst the lockdown.
The Human Rights Watch stated that there was much misinformation circulating on Chinese social media .