When China is expected to unblock facebook and twitter?
Following last weekend’s deadly riots in its western region of Xinjiang, China’s central government has taken all the usual steps to block citizens from accessing foreign web services: aside from crippling Internet service in general, the authorities have blocked Twitter, removed unapproved references to the violence from search engines and has now apparently moved to bar its citizens from accessing Facebook from most parts of Mainland China just now. Two weeks ago, the government had already blocked just about every Google service, including communication tools like Gmail, Google Apps and Google Talk. Web2Asia’s George Godula writes: “As of today 8pm Chinese time Facebook seems not to be accessible from most parts of China Mainland anymore. On the China Telecom connection of our Shanghai office the service vanished at around 7:45pm. Friends in Hong Kong are reporting that they can still access the website.” A quick test on WebsitePulse confirms the blocking of Twitter and YouTube (whi
SHANGHAI – Blocked since July when rioting broke out in China’s Xinjiang province, Facebook and Twitter users are cautiously optimistic that the services will be restored after the Chinese government’s 60th anniversary celebrations on Oct. 1. Dubbed “The Great Firewall of China,” the Chinese government routinely interrupts access to web content that it finds objectionable. Others contend that China isn’t really blocking content out of political purposes but rather commercial ones. YouTube, the popular American video sharing website, has been blocked in China since March. Every Chinese user who can’t use the site is that much more likely to turn to China’s domestic copycat, YouKu. Likewise, frustrated Facebook fans might establish profiles on China’s KaiXin service. Internet users in China complained on blogs and news websites about losing access to the services. Some foreign residents in China said they used the sites for commercial purposes and others said it was their primary method
China is expected to unblock both social networking sites facebook and twitter on 60th anniversary celebrations on Oct. 1. Sources: http://www.examiner.
