Following last weekend’s deadly riots
in its western region of Xinjiang, China’s central government has taken all the usual steps to block citizens from accessing foreign web services: aside from crippling Internet service in general, the authorities have blocked Twitter, removed unapproved references to the violence from search engines and has now apparently moved to bar its citizens from accessing Facebook from most parts of Mainland China just now. Two weeks ago, the government had already blocked just about every Google service, including communication tools like Gmail, Google Apps and Google Talk.Web2Asia’s George Godula writes:
“As of today 8pm Chinese time Facebook seems not to be accessible from most parts of China Mainland anymore. On the China Telecom connection of our Shanghai office the service vanished at around 7:45pm. Friends in Hong Kong are reporting that they can still access the website.”
A quick test on WebsitePulse confirms the blocking of Twitter and YouTube (which have been restricted for a while) and now Facebook too, at least in some parts of the country.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/07/china-blocks-access-to-twitter-facebook-after-riots/
http://www.web2asia.com/2009/07/07/first-twitter-now-facebook-banned-in-china/
July 8th, 2009 - 1:33 am
hey nelson, gtfo of china
July 8th, 2009 - 2:01 am
[…] See the original post here: Facebook banned in China […]
July 8th, 2009 - 2:45 pm
nice chinese name for fb
July 8th, 2009 - 11:33 pm
Fuck them!!
China is developing??????????????? where???
So much for freedom of speech and expression.
Fucking brainless…
July 19th, 2009 - 4:11 pm
Facebook Ban is a security overreaction by Chinese authorities due to unrest in Urumqi. It would logically follow that if the desires of the authorities is to return Urumqi to normal status in the quickest time possible, then a lifting of the ban on Facebook would assist that goal. On a side note, banning Facebook outside of Urumqi or its province makes little or no logical sense and creates much greater public relations damage both locally and internationally than any damage it might prevent (and it is debatable whether it creates any damage in Urumqi, also). The brainless rampagers of both rioting elements most likely acted in a spur of the moment reaction rather than in a planned, coordinated action. If there were proof of conspiracy on Facebook to commit violence in the rioting, then it would be a simple matter for the authorities to trace back the perpetrators on Facebook itself and prosecute them in a court of law. If there is no evidence on anyone’s Facebook entries, then prosecution would have to depend on other forms of information-gathering. In either case, Facebook would be an ASSET, not a LIABILITY to the authorities to ferret out the perpetrators of those mindless acts. I do not see the logic of the government officials in this particular case. I would suggest immediate reinstatement of Facebook if China wants to continue to give the impression that it is “opening up”.
Arthur Tafero