The next time you're about to roll your eyes at yet another political debate in your Facebook feed, you might want to consider yourself lucky instead. Because users of WeChat — China's version of Facebook — often don't get the privilege.

A first-of-its-kind study from University of Toronto's Citizen Lab found that posts on WeChat relating to political news and rumors appear to be targeted for censorship "to a much greater degree" than was previously thought. The researchers downloaded more than 36,000 unique public account posts between June 2014 and this March, and monitored them over time to identify what is censored on the platform.

Not surprisingly, the group found that posts containing "sensitive keywords" such as "corrupt," "repression," "Communism," "rights," and "arrest" were more often censored. "Political keywords and keywords related to corruption are particularly likely to be found in censored posts as compared to uncensored posts," the report noted.

The researchers also found evidence that automatic filters are used to block posts containing certain "blacklisted" words and phrases, including June 4, the date of the violent crackdown in 1989 on protests around Tiananmen Square, and keywords related to Falun Gong, a group targeted by the Chinese government.

In addition, perhaps due to "the ongoing 'anti-rumor campaign' sweeping Chinese social media," rumors, speculation, and political commentary are also being censored on WeChat, the report noted. This includes posts containing outright falsehoolds, tabloid gossip, and "harmless" sensationalism.

Citizen Lab said its report is "not meant to be the definitive final word" on WeChat censorship. "Our project tracking and collecting these public posts is ongoing," they added.