As soon as China announced it would remove term limits on the presidency, its censors and propaganda machine kicked into gear. The surprise move would clear the way for Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely. It’s a break from China’s decades-old rules to prevent power from being too centralized around one person. “In China, the most important political announcements are made through the state-owned news organizations. This explosive news was announced by Xinhua news agency on Sunday in the afternoon.” So how did officials try to spin the news? On Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, China.com published this video focusing on the central role of the president. “In the face of the complicated domestic and international situation, this will further promote the sustainable development of various great causes.” China Central Television ran a similar editorial, stating that “the people love their dear leader.” Global Times, a Chinese daily, published an editorial recommending that people “firmly support the constitution amendment suggestion, which is both the rational choice and our belief.” But the same day, it published an editorial that depicted the news in a softer light, saying, “The change doesn’t mean that the Chinese president will have a lifelong tenure.” The People’s Liberation Army Daily is the voice of the military. It published a write-up saying that soldiers and armed policemen all support the decision. “President Xi Jinping has consolidated his control of the army, and all of the soldiers are supporting him 100 percent.” State-run media tried to control the narrative in Hong Kong, too. “That video was made by the Ta Kung Pao. It’s a pro-Beijing Hong Kong newspaper. And I think the most important part of the video is trying to let people know that the Chinese constitution actually had been changed four times in the past several decades. So it’s not a big deal. So people don’t need to freak out.” But not everyone was on board. Chinese citizens took to social media networks to voice their disagreements. One user said he couldn’t use the word “disagree” on Weibo, because it was apparently a violation of the social platform‘s terms. But perhaps not surprisingly, those comments were swiftly removed from the web.