Bo Xilai 薄熙来

Son of one of the People's Republic of China's founding fathers, Bo Xilai was a prominent and rising politician in China until last year, when he was accused of taking bribes and his wife was named as the chief suspect in the murder of a British businessman. The accusations and later courtroom drama triggered Bo's spectacular and public downfall.

Official news of Bo's indictment broke during our two-week sample. The Chinese government caused Weibo's parent company, Sina, to go into what one Singaporean journalist called "censorship overdrive," rapidly deleting any posts related to Bo.

Over our two-week sample period, 10 percent of all censored photos were images of Bo Xilai himself or symbols that represent him or the scandal.