Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of joining one of the world’s most famous broadcasters in the world, Piers Morgan, on his television show Piers Morgan Uncensored.
Thank you for being heard even Here In South Africa. i have been following and doing my reseaech on China and I really love for being China more special Guangdong province, things are happening there my brother honesty. Life is in China no other place to take a walk around. Politics is a problem but i do not see the West winning this time. Propaganda times are outdated my friend. Yes, there are still people who are brainwashed out there.
Cyrus, here are a few questions for you: 1) Why are the FOUR largest social media platforms (Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook) blocked from domestic access in China (without VPN) and what threat do they have to the Chinese? You use these platforms while Chinese citizens are blocked. 2) Why do Chinese government officials and govt supported accounts use these prohibited platforms for propaganda and to openly criticize the USA/West? 3) Would China allow US government officials to have similar access and open messaging on Chinese social media to be used in a similar manner? You see Cyrus, I don't disagree with you on the TikTok ban being an overreach, but I do believe in having fairness in international relations (trade, media, etc) especially between China and the West. The Chinese continue to show they will abuse the West's access to freedom of speech, using it to further their agenda while prohibiting the same to take place in China. When you support China's requirement to link IDs to any social media accounts, you should be reminded that the freedoms you enjoy came from the founders of America using anonymity to disseminate ideology and speech that could have resulted in them losing their lives and heads to the King. Finally, your support of China limiting the time youth can spend online "doing whatever" reflects a serious flaw in your thinking about parenting, responsibility and the role government should play in life. What if they decided to limit the time youth can enjoy other activities that distract from schoolwork? What if they restricted youth golf? I love China and the Chinese people - the changes I have witnessed personally in China over the years are amazing. However, I will not put on rose colored glasses and give a pass to the obvious unfairness that exists in the areas mentioned above - and I continue to hope you will take off these glasses and see and speak in fairness about things as they are.
Thanks for the detailed comment! All great questions...China has a pathway for Western social media companies to operate in China. LinkedIN followed that pathway for many years until it pulled out of China last year. After operating in China for many years they simply discovered that native Chinese people weren't that interested in LI. The only people that used it were Chinese who spent time abroad, or worked for an international company and had foreign colleagues. As far as the TikTok ban, I think we can both agree this is an overreach and the truth came out yesterday. The US just wants to force a sell of TikTok to an American firm, it was never about national security but simply a chance to eliminate a competitor. Finally I think you misunderstood my comment about China limited the youth on social media. I think Piers said it best, it brings up an interesting point that maybe the government limiting social media use is a good thing? To be frank, I would prefer the method we have in the West. As a parent of 3 I certainly limit the amount of screen time for my children.
Thanks for the reply Cyrus and superficially addressing my questions. When LinkedIn shut down the primary LI site in China they said the reason was due to a “significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China”. These compliance requirements included having to censor posts and throttle political opinion made by LI members. So when you say that "China has a pathway for Western social media companies to operate in China" I can only assume that this pathway is regulating political content, opinion and speech? You are a highly intelligent individual, but I don't understand why you don't see that you are defending censorship of political speech and ideology. ByteDance who owns TikTok and is funded by international investment groups could simply reformulate ANYWHERE but China and probably become acceptable in the eyes of the American government-but that would put their other popular China-based businesses and platforms at risk (抖音) . Finally, the Cyberspace Administration of China has been active in censoring content posted on TikTok is politically embarrassing to China and of course TikTok/ByteDance must do as they're told or face the consequences. There is absolutely no way China social media could ever be ALLOWED to be used by Western political activists and government employees the same way that Chinese government officials use the 4 platforms I mentioned in my original questions to you. That alone indicates an unfairness and anti-freespeech that everyone should find reprehensible and unacceptable. There's so much more that could be said but I'll stop here.
First of all, my friends, we must clarify the basic facts. Before 2008, Google had a branch in China, and it could be used freely. But then they refused to put Chinese local data under Chinese supervision, just like TikTok is doing now, so Google voluntarily withdrew from the Chinese market. face book and twitter are based on the same reason. And Apple chose data localization, so Apple's China region is still one of their most profitable departments. I think based on the principle of fairness, it is the best fairness for Chinese companies to keep US data in the US for the same reason
Thank you for being heard even Here In South Africa. i have been following and doing my reseaech on China and I really love for being China more special Guangdong province, things are happening there my brother honesty. Life is in China no other place to take a walk around. Politics is a problem but i do not see the West winning this time. Propaganda times are outdated my friend. Yes, there are still people who are brainwashed out there.
Thanks for the support Veron!
Cyrus, here are a few questions for you: 1) Why are the FOUR largest social media platforms (Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook) blocked from domestic access in China (without VPN) and what threat do they have to the Chinese? You use these platforms while Chinese citizens are blocked. 2) Why do Chinese government officials and govt supported accounts use these prohibited platforms for propaganda and to openly criticize the USA/West? 3) Would China allow US government officials to have similar access and open messaging on Chinese social media to be used in a similar manner? You see Cyrus, I don't disagree with you on the TikTok ban being an overreach, but I do believe in having fairness in international relations (trade, media, etc) especially between China and the West. The Chinese continue to show they will abuse the West's access to freedom of speech, using it to further their agenda while prohibiting the same to take place in China. When you support China's requirement to link IDs to any social media accounts, you should be reminded that the freedoms you enjoy came from the founders of America using anonymity to disseminate ideology and speech that could have resulted in them losing their lives and heads to the King. Finally, your support of China limiting the time youth can spend online "doing whatever" reflects a serious flaw in your thinking about parenting, responsibility and the role government should play in life. What if they decided to limit the time youth can enjoy other activities that distract from schoolwork? What if they restricted youth golf? I love China and the Chinese people - the changes I have witnessed personally in China over the years are amazing. However, I will not put on rose colored glasses and give a pass to the obvious unfairness that exists in the areas mentioned above - and I continue to hope you will take off these glasses and see and speak in fairness about things as they are.
Thanks for the detailed comment! All great questions...China has a pathway for Western social media companies to operate in China. LinkedIN followed that pathway for many years until it pulled out of China last year. After operating in China for many years they simply discovered that native Chinese people weren't that interested in LI. The only people that used it were Chinese who spent time abroad, or worked for an international company and had foreign colleagues. As far as the TikTok ban, I think we can both agree this is an overreach and the truth came out yesterday. The US just wants to force a sell of TikTok to an American firm, it was never about national security but simply a chance to eliminate a competitor. Finally I think you misunderstood my comment about China limited the youth on social media. I think Piers said it best, it brings up an interesting point that maybe the government limiting social media use is a good thing? To be frank, I would prefer the method we have in the West. As a parent of 3 I certainly limit the amount of screen time for my children.
Thanks for the reply Cyrus and superficially addressing my questions. When LinkedIn shut down the primary LI site in China they said the reason was due to a “significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China”. These compliance requirements included having to censor posts and throttle political opinion made by LI members. So when you say that "China has a pathway for Western social media companies to operate in China" I can only assume that this pathway is regulating political content, opinion and speech? You are a highly intelligent individual, but I don't understand why you don't see that you are defending censorship of political speech and ideology. ByteDance who owns TikTok and is funded by international investment groups could simply reformulate ANYWHERE but China and probably become acceptable in the eyes of the American government-but that would put their other popular China-based businesses and platforms at risk (抖音) . Finally, the Cyberspace Administration of China has been active in censoring content posted on TikTok is politically embarrassing to China and of course TikTok/ByteDance must do as they're told or face the consequences. There is absolutely no way China social media could ever be ALLOWED to be used by Western political activists and government employees the same way that Chinese government officials use the 4 platforms I mentioned in my original questions to you. That alone indicates an unfairness and anti-freespeech that everyone should find reprehensible and unacceptable. There's so much more that could be said but I'll stop here.
First of all, my friends, we must clarify the basic facts. Before 2008, Google had a branch in China, and it could be used freely. But then they refused to put Chinese local data under Chinese supervision, just like TikTok is doing now, so Google voluntarily withdrew from the Chinese market. face book and twitter are based on the same reason. And Apple chose data localization, so Apple's China region is still one of their most profitable departments. I think based on the principle of fairness, it is the best fairness for Chinese companies to keep US data in the US for the same reason
Well said Mark! Completely agree with everything you've laid out here