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Facebook, Twitter inaccessibility makes China expats feel disconnected
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Photo by Bev Sykes
BEIJING – The Chinese government’s decision to disrupt service to a number of popular websites, including Facebook and Twitter, is making foreign residents in the Middle Kingdom feel cut off from the outside world. On blogs and news sites, foreigners living in China raged about not being able to communicate with business associates and loved ones overseas.
One user on a news site commented: “And another big website blocked. Google just a week ago due to allegedly showing porn links. No information when Facebook will be back. The biggest internet user base in the world. Just shut off. For the greater good of the country... right? I've been in China for almost three years. I could be in Iran and don't feel any difference when using Internet. This censorship is actually getting worse and not just affecting a particular website, but the internet connection as a whole. I am seriously considering leaving this country because doing online business here is too difficult. What saddens me is that Chinese netizens seem to accept this in general. Why is that?”
The Chinese government began blocking access to certain websites this week after violence erupted in Xinjiang, located in western China. The Chinese government confirmed that it was disrupting Internet access because it believed protesters were communicating via social networking sites. The government has not said when it will restore access, but in the past it has usually done so in a few days.
Another netizen wrote: “Gosh, I am in shanghai, was in the process of uploading some of the photos on face book for my families to see back at home, when suddenly connection got interrupted on Tuesday 7th July around 2pm, I did not even got the chance of editing those photos... Come on China this is our only means of communicating with our families back home and please don't take that away from us...please don't take long...women ai ni Zhongguo, and please once again don't take facebook away from us!!!”
Last month the Chinese government blocked access to the English version of Google and some users were unable to access popular Google applications like Gmail. The government said that pornographic material was available on Google sites, and that the company had not complied with repeated demands to block the objectionable content. The services were restored a few days later.
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