Reasons that Facebook does not work in China (Mix)

Facebook does not work in China because it is banned there. Twitter also got banned in China about the same time because the government believed that it was a driving force in organizing mass protests in the country.’ In particular in the Xinjiang Provence.  It was expected that once the troubles there vanished that then the ban would be lifted. Well what happened is that no one apparently misses Facebook and life can go on just fine without it. There were neither international protests nor repercussions for the blocking and then Facebook decided not to continue with any plans into the Chinese market. Really? Can Facebook really turn its back on millions of people in China? After all, it is a people site!

Even if Facebook would make an effort to see what the government demands for respect are and were unblocked, it is doubtful that it would gain much popularity in China because Chinese social networking sites already have a strong head start in the country and are thriving.  The damaging riots in Xinjiang happened back in 2009. It is not just Facebook but all foreign websites are being banned. It is obvious that the Chinese government wants to control the speech on the Chinese internet. If they deem something to be “harmful” they will have someone ready to delete the content. There is no free speech and no trusting of the people to decide for themselves or even accurate reporting there.

Is censorship good for a country? Is it ok if the government just pulls the plug on your power? The one exception is Wikipedia but even they have restrictions on content. It is just not blocked in its entirety. It doesn’t help that the translation of the word Facebook means YOU SHALL DIE in Chinese and that really doesn’t help matters either.  The Facebook founder should have thought about that when he chose the name Facebook for his site!

The ill fate of Facebook in China is compounded by the fact that there is an old saying in China,” Once the Emperor Would Like A Minister To Die, The Minister Shall Die.”

It is obvious to continue the ban so many years later can also be seen as a measure to protect the popular social networking sites such as Kaixin and Weibo already popular and in full swing presently being used in China now. The Chinese sites have no interest in losing market share.  The Chinese have similar policies in place to protect their animation and movie industry.  For this reason they block You Tube as well.

The Chinese people have been kept ignorant about events that shook the world. The people of China do not know about the Tinmen Square incident where the free world saw the photos of the lone man who stood in protest in front of a tank. The people of Mainland China have never seen this photo. China has its own popular sites so they don’t need Facebook.