Zoom has admitted that its suspended accounts of the human rights activists at the request of the Chinese government. It happened after the activist tried to held online events related to the Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary which Beijing complaints are illegal.
The Chinese government is long known for heavily regulating the internet in China. They have developed a system known as the Great Firewall sensor the social media platform posts in which Beijing thinks is against the government.
Activists who live outside of China find it very difficult to communicate with people in China due to the Great Firewall. After Zoom getting popularity these activists though that now they have the tool to communicate. “For us, the biggest challenge has been how to reach people within China because of the firewall, and Zoom for a while looked like a ray of hope,” said US-based Humanitarian China founder Zhou Fengsuo.
Now the question raised is Zoom bending to Chinese pressure. Zoom is one of very few Western social platforms which is not banned in China. And clearly Zoom is doing everything they can to keep it that way.
Zoom said that they don’t have the system to block participants from particular countries that’s why they suspended the account. Zoom said it was informed by the Chinese government in May and early June that four meetings commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre would be taking place. It ended three of the meetings and suspended or terminated the associated host accounts. Zoom also said that they have reactivated the accounts.