Zoom admits it blocked activist meetings at China’s request

HONG KONG — Video app company Zoom said that it blocked several meetings and suspended the accounts of three activists at the request of the Chinese government.

The company released details Thursday saying that in May and early June, the Chinese government notified it about several online meetings planned to commemorate the June 4, 1989, crackdown on protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

China bans public dissent. Zoom said the government told it that such activities were illegal and demanded that the company terminate the meetings and the host accounts of the organizers, though they did not live in China.

Zoom then suspended the accounts of U.S.-based activists Zhou Fengsuo and Wang Dan and Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Lee Cheuk-Yan. It since has reinstated all of their accounts.

“Going forward Zoom will not allow requests from the Chinese government to impact anyone outside of mainland China,” Zoom said in a blog post dated June 11.

The company said it is developing technology that would allow it to block participants based on geography. That would mean it could stop people in mainland China from attending future meetings on Zoom that are deemed illegal by the Chinese government.

It did not give details on how it would determine which meetings would fit that description. That raises the issue of Zoom acting as a censor on behalf of the Chinese government.

Some international social media companies, such as Twitter and Facebook, are mostly blocked inside China.

Zoom is not. But it is among many companies subject to scrutiny by Beijing as they operate across global borders.

“Though my account was unblocked, I cannot accept that Zoom will instead block Chinese participants. Shame on Zoom for political censoring on behalf of the Chinese government,” said Lee, who confirmed that Zoom had reinstated his paid account as of Thursday. But he said he plans to cancel it.

Lee, who each year helps to organize Hong Kong’s annual candlelight vigil commemorating the 1989 crackdown, earlier said he was locked out of his paid Zoom account on May 22 ahead of a live video talk.