I was reading the newspaper and saw these vertical lines. I'm guessing it's saying that 川上尚志 is in 広州 or something along those lines. But my question is what are they called and why they are used instead of say the interpunct/中黒（・）or a black dot （●）.

I was reading the newspaper and saw these vertical lines. I'm guessing it's saying that 川上尚志 is in 広州 or something along those lines. But my question is what are they called and why they are used instead of say the interpunct/中黒（・）or a black dot （●）

EDIT: Okay looking at the electronic version it seems that it might just be an equals sign:

広州=川上尚志

However, I don't see anything on Google about a vertical equal sign 垂直イコール or something like that, so the naming and usage are still something I'd like to know.