Taiwan: Facebook's Deactivation of User Accounts Triggered Free Speech Concerns

Weiping Li — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 12:40:08 +0000

A Taiwanes activist posted an article protesting against Facebook's suspension of his account.

On June 1st, Facebook suspended the accounts of several Hong Kong activists, causing speculation that the suspension was related to the 23rd anniversary of Tiananmen Protest in the absence of any other clear information or explanation from the company. Coincidentally, several Taiwanese activists and politicians also had their accounts suspended on the same day, which triggered Taiwanese users’ concern over the limitation on free speech.

Ho Tsung-hsun, the activist who has long devoted to social movements in Taiwan, posted an article [zh] describing the incident on the citizen journalism platform Peopo. According to Ho, after he saw the notice page of deactivation on Facebook, he clicked the FAQ link and tried to look for the reason of the suspension. Facebook listed four general reasons for account deactivation which Ho claimed he violated none of them. He complained that the deactivation has seriously impacted his social movement campaigns [zh]:

我從臉書網址根本找不到任何可以了解原因的連結，而我在臉書耕耘幾年的資料與開設社群就這樣無故消失，對工作與人際交際產生不便影響。

I couldn't find any link which provides explanation to the deactivation on Facebook. The information I've collected and the Facebook groups that I've created and maintained all disappeared, which has caused inconvenience to my work and interpersonal relationship.

Ho told the Global Voices Advocacy that he complained to Facebook, but only got an email which was generated by the automatic replying system. He wrote again and claimed that he would take further action. The suspension was eventually lifted at 9 pm on June 1st. But till now, he hasn't received any apology or explanation from Facebook.

A Taiwanese political Facebook fan page “Xien Ma Tong” （掀馬統）[zh] was also disabled and reactivated on the same day. The fan page was created to ridicule the Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou. Another Facebook fan page “New Taiwan GoGoGO“[zh] which relates to a Taiwanese television station also reported that the messages could no be posted though the page was still being there on Facebook. Liu Jian-Kuo, a legislator from the Democratic Progress Party also said his Facebook account was suspended without any warning from Facebook.

Taipei City Councilor Ho Zhi-Wei has written an official statement to Facebook, expressing his concern over Facebook's unreasonable account deactivation which has resulted in hindrance to free speech.

Global Voices co-founder Rebecca MacKinnon has communicated with executives at Facebook, requesting an explanation of the deactivation incidents in Hong Kong and Taiwan. They say that these incidents were due to a global technical problem that has since been fixed. Here is a statement she received from Facebook spokeswoman Debbie Frost:

“To protect the millions of people who connect and share on Facebook every day, we have automated systems and a dedicated team that reviews reports made by users in order to maintain a trusted environment and protect the nearly billion people that use our site. In this instance, we mistakenly took action on a number of accounts and temporarily suspended them. When this happens, we try our best to resolve the situation, apologize to those affected and make any necessary changes to our processes to help prevent such mistakes happening again. We have already remediated the majority of these accounts, and expect to complete the process soon.”

For Chinese Netizens, SOPA is Another Great Firewall

Weiping Li — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:59:05 +0000

“Now they’re copying us to build up a wall. It’s like after climbing over the wall, we then bump into another one. It’s crazy!! (現在等於他們自己也照著我們這樣造個牆，於是我們以後翻牆出去，又被他們的牆牆住[，]這簡直瘋了嗎！)” On China's Sina Weibo microblogging service a Chinese Internet user with nickname “gap foreseeable (落差可見)” expresses concern over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which expected to brought to a vote in U.S. House of Representatives before the end of the year. The Chinese government has long been criticized by Americans for obstructing the free flow of information through a filtering system popularly known as the Great Firewall. Now it is Chinese neitzens’ turn to sneer at proposals for a Made-in-America Great Firewall.

Most Chinese-language blogs and microblog messages emphasize the disastrous outcomes that the bill could bring. What people worry about most are bill's endorsement of surveillance by web services and Internet companies to prevent “infringing” content, and the implications for individual privacy. A post written by blogger Richard (pseudonym) on the Taiwan-based website inside.com.tw introduces key concepts of SOPA and asks readers to imagine what it will be like to live under the bill. This post has been widely circulated around websites Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China:

“試想著有一天你在台灣，過著像這樣的生活：各網站必須被迫和政府合作接受審查，你平日每天要上的網站隨時可能會被封鎖，你寄出的每封信也都會受到審查，再也沒有私人隱私。大陸的狀況？唉，一聲長嘆啊！”

“Try to imagine that, one day, you’re in Taiwan and live a life like this: every website is forced to cooperate with the government and subject to be censored. The websites that you visit everyday can be blocked anytime. Every mail you send will also be censored. There is no more privacy. As for what will happen in China [under the same scenario]? Sigh…a long long sigh…”

The Taiwanese media company Next media Animation has even made an animated clip about SOPA, in which black-suited Hollywood businessman battle Internet company guys who are backed up by net users. SOPA is personified with cops using pepper spray against people who might use pirated works.

The comments from China weibo users are even more bitter, and scorning –both at the United States and Chinese government.

“s7evenz:看來咱們終於可以向老美輸出技術和價值觀了，咱們是強大的，先進的，無比正確的！”

“s7evenz: It looks like that we can finally export our technology and value to the Americans. We’re strong, advanced, and absolutely right!”

“SemKem:期待美國佬享受與天朝子民同等待遇”

“SemKem: I expect to see that the Americans enjoy the same treatment as what the subjects of the Holy Empire have.” ["Holy Empire" is a sarcastic term used by Chinese netizens for the Chinese government.]

Aside from those sarcastic comments, Chinese blogger Michael Anti sees the introduction of SOPA into legislation as a conflict between opposing interests among rival groups.

“簡單地說，SOPA是傳統媒體和消費品行業延長黃金歲月的保護傘，卻是互聯網行業和用戶權利的扼殺者，前者只是懷念舊時光，而後者卻要誓死消滅這個法案，因此反對者必然會全力廝殺到最後。隨著今後法案在眾院委員會的審查，對它的阻擊還會越來越強烈。”

“To put it simply, traditional media and consumer products companies use SOPA as a shield to prolong their golden days. However, the same bill will kill Internet industry and users. The former is only being nostalgic, but the latter has sworn to kill the bill. Therefore, the groups who oppose the bill will definitely fight to the last minute. The blow on the bill will be getting fiercer as it is scrutinized in the House committee.”

Anti also predicts that there is slim possibility for the bill to become law. However, “the introduction of the bill does also stage a grand legislation war,” Anti concludes.

Global Voices Advocacy » Weiping Li

Taiwan: Facebook's Deactivation of User Accounts Triggered Free Speech Concerns

For Chinese Netizens, SOPA is Another Great Firewall