DigiTrends Your source for Chinese digital insights

20May/110

We must abide by the 度

US companies have tried in many ways to enter China's internet market, such as Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, but have come up against a wall because of censorship issues. This latest attempt by a group of Chinese Americans to sue China Internet search giant Baidu for $16million through a US court for blocking their pro-democracy speeches, will probably have no greater success.

"We are a China-based company; obviously we need to abide by the Chinese law. Certain type of information or content is deemed illegal, and we have to take that out from our search result " Baidu CEO Mr. Li plainly stated.

“China's oversight of the Internet conforms with international practices and foreign courts have no jurisdiction over China's methods.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu commented.

The Chinese government strictly monitors any anti-Party sentiment within its borders on and off line and no matter how many outside hopefuls try to weave in and out of this, they are ultimately unsuccessful. Those that try to gain Party trust are on their way to making a lot of money.

Forbes outlines China’s most popular social media blog Weibo (a sort of Facebook and Twitter hybrid), owned by another Chinese Internet giant Sina. It is used by less than 1% of the total population of China but already has 140 million followers, a lot more more than Twitter.

Imagine what will happen when eventually just another 2% or 3% of China’s population starts to use Weibo, not to mention 20% or 30%...

As the article describes, “Years of self-censoring experience have earned Weibo acceptance from the government.”

So, to keep fighting? Or time to change tactics?

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