Facebook, Twitter draw flak in China
BEIJING, China (Global Times) — Facebook and Twitter faced a strong backlash after the two platforms started to take down accounts from China in relation to the ongoing protests in Hong Kong.
Users complained the move was the latest evidence of the platforms’ vulnerability to Western bias against China, while analysts noted that social media platforms should perform their social responsibility of ensuring freedom of speech and not fall victim to Western political correctness standards. Twitter suspended 936 accounts on Monday for “deliberately and specifically attempting to sow political discord in Hong Kong” and “undermining the legitimacy and political positions” of the ongoing protests in the city. The platform alleged the move was “a coordinated state-backed operation.” Facebook also removed seven pages, three groups and five accounts “based on a tip shared by Twitter.”
Facebook claimed the individuals behind the accounts are associated with the Chinese government.
However, account holders reached by the Global Times
stressed that their actions have nothing to do with any government or authorities, saying they just felt the need to speak out when information about their homeland was far from the facts.
“The information and reports over the protests in Hong Kong are extremely one-sided and we should refute lies and make the right voice heard,” an organizer of the Diba online forum told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Responding to an appeal from Diba, thousands of internet users denounced radical violence and supported the Hong Kong police on the Facebook page of Apple Daily
and Hong Kong media outlets on Saturday.
After that, more than half of the organizers from Diba
could not access their personal Facebook accounts unless uploading a picture of their identity cards.
“It’s a shame that Western media labeled the voices, which are purely public opinions, as state-backed,” said the organizer who requested anonymity. “We are disappointed, but we will not give up speaking out,” the organizer said.