DeepSeek’s Deep Censorship of Falun Gong, Practitioners in Los Angeles Intimidated

Within just three months, Falun Gong practitioners in Los Angeles experienced three intimidation incidents linked to the CCP or driven by its anti-Falun Gong propaganda, raising concerns over growing transnational repression. For example, on June 9, a Chinese woman shoved a practitioner who was peacefully sharing information of Falun Gong and the CCP’s human rights abuses outside the building housing the Chinese Consulate’s Passport and Visa Office. After being filmed and questioned why, she shouted, “As a Chinese, how can you treat the Chinese Communist Party like this?”

On Sept. 4, an Asian man at the same location rushed forward, snatched a banner displayed by Falun Gong practitioners, and fled into the Chinese Consulate building. Three days later, a young Chinese woman followed practitioners at Santa Monica Pier as they handed out flyers about Falun Gong and the CCP’s human rights abuses. Suddenly, she snatched flyers from a practitioner, threw them to the ground, and shouted insults.

Such incidents occurred in the context of an escalating campaign of intimidation and disinformation against Falun Gong practitioners in the United States and beyond. As of Sept. 25, the Falun Dafa Information Center recorded at least 184 death threats sent to practitioners and their supporters, including seven incidents in September alone. One message submitted through the White House Contact Us form on Sept. 6 impersonated a Falun Gong practitioner and threatened violence. The message stated in English, “We are Falun Gong members, and we will soon be shooting at the White House! We will throw incendiary bombs and explosives! If anyone tries to stop us, we will open fire! … This is the consequence of your failure to help us address the Communist Party’s transnational repression!” The message was a hoax and reported to law enforcement.

Mr. Liu Xuesen, 90, was admitted to the Shandong Province Prison on June 25, 2025, to serve a six-month term he had been sentenced to in March 2022 for practicing Falun Gong. Just a week earlier, his 85-year-old wife, Ms. Li Ping—also a Falun Gong practitioner—was taken to a local detention center to begin serving the same prison term.

According to Minghui.org, Liu was placed in the prison’s 11th Division, a unit specifically designed to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their faith through relentless psychological and physical abuse. He has been held in isolation on the sixth floor, subjected to severe sleep deprivation, starvation-level rations, and constant indoctrination. Each day, he was denied sleep until 2 a.m. and woken before 6 a.m., forced to spend more than 20 hours sitting on a small stool while watching propaganda videos. His meals consisted of little more than a steamed bun, minimal vegetables or meat, and only a single cup of water per day. Restroom access was heavily restricted, with even basic necessities like toilet paper withheld.

Mr. Liu and his wife are among the most recent cases in the CCP’s escalating persecution of elderly and veteran Falun Gong practitioners, as highlighted in a July research report by the Falun Dafa Information Center. Their situation underscores an urgent need for international attention and action.

The Falun Dafa Information Center has launched a new microsite, “Beijing’s New Push to Destroy Shen Yun & Silence Falun Gong Globally,” designed as a public guide to understanding the CCP’s escalating campaign against Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts, an American classical Chinese dance company founded by Falun Gong practitioners. The site offers an accessible introduction to who Falun Gong practitioners are, how Shen Yun performers train, and why these groups appear frequently in the news. It also addresses common misconceptions, responding to media narratives and legal disputes that critics have used to discredit them.

The microsite highlights leaked CCP directives from 2024 and documents recent incidents of harassment, propaganda, and “lawfare” that extend into the United States and beyond. Through background materials, interviews, and case studies, it warns that the campaign against Falun Gong and Shen Yun is part of a wider pattern of transnational repression, raising broader concerns for freedom of expression and cultural independence worldwide.