The Communist Party of China managed to silence activists in the United States using a platform that allows data to pass through China, and has a poorly-understood relationship with the Chinese government.
Due to China’s demands, Zoom deactivated the accounts of activits based in the United States who were marking the anniversary of the Tienanmen Square Massacre.
We’ve heard the concerns surrounding Lee Cheuk-yan, Wang Dan, and Zhou Fengsuo’s accounts. We’ve thought a lot about this. Here are the facts and what we’re doing about it: https://t.co/XGzJD5raSX
— Zoom (@zoom_us) June 11, 2020
The video conferencing app company said in a company blog post they won’t allow government requests from China to impact users outside mainland China “going forward,” which of course sounds totally legit and trustworthy.
“Going forward @zoom_us will not allow requests from the Chinese government to impact anyone outside of mainland China.”
More at Bloomberg News.
So @zoom_us admits that they blocked accounts of Lee Cheuk-yan, @wangdan1989 and @ZhouFengSuo based on requests coming from #Beijing. Moving forward, they will still block accounts inside #China whenever requests from Beijing reach them. How does this ensure open exchange? https://t.co/7UDPpG7r1o
— William Yang (@WilliamYang120) June 12, 2020
NEW: Zoom just confirmed that Chinese govt asked it to close several meetings & accounts engaging in "illegal" activity.
Zoom has now promised to develop the ability to block mainland users from certain meetings.
Two sets of values for 1 company.https://t.co/dRIGvAf15p
— B. Allen-Ebrahimian (@BethanyAllenEbr) June 11, 2020
If Zoom failed to anticipate that the Chinese government might wish to have Chinese participants blocked, why on earth should anyone believe they have anticipated how they will handle a request for for a backdoor or eavesdropping capability?https://t.co/y5wLDqv9yD pic.twitter.com/jzmLy4T2na
— Ben Thompson (@benthompson) June 12, 2020
Today they shut down #China activists; tomorrow who else?@zoom_us Zoom shuts down pro-democracy activists at request of Chinese govt. https://t.co/4sG8RtYMJ3 via @technology
— Sarah Leah Whitson (@sarahleah1) June 12, 2020
Zoom's new line is: it's ok to talk about anything on our platform except if you're in China. If you are, we'll do the work of Beijing's censors and block you. https://t.co/dpUAt3Uk3Z
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) June 12, 2020
Irresponsible behavior @zoom_us you don't become global company if you are spreading dystopian values. https://t.co/yjaVfBr17b
— Mishi Choudhary (@MishiChoudhary) June 12, 2020
Maybe academic institutions should be a bit less enthusiastic about going all in on Zoom. https://t.co/KRNiD8YBvl
— Jeppe Mulich (@jmulich) June 12, 2020
Zoom admits to shutting down activists' accounts, who were holding memorials for the victims of China’s violent suppression of peaceful protests at Tiananmen Square, at the request of the Chinese government. @jshieber reports. https://t.co/MkmbyVuNwS
— Zack Whittaker (@zackwhittaker) June 12, 2020