Zoom says it deactivated accounts of US-based activists due to China's demands, won't allow such requests to impact users outside mainland China “going forward”

- Company shut down video meetings to remember Tiananmen Square — Zoom's in the middle of a free speech and censorship clash

Bloomberg 2020-06-13 Nico Grant

Context & Ripple Effects

The deactivation is the escalation of a squeeze that had been building all spring: weeks earlier, Zoom stopped letting individuals sign up for free accounts inside China, citing regulatory requirements, and two days before this statement the company confirmed it had closed the activists' paid account while calling it compliance with local law. Today's announcement is the first time Zoom has drawn an explicit line — requests from Beijing will be honored only for users on the mainland.

First-order effects

US-based activists who lost paid accounts over Tiananmen commemorations get them restored, and gain a stated corporate guarantee that future takedown demands from Chinese authorities won't reach them.

Second-order effects

The carve-out forces Zoom to run two product regimes — one compliant inside China, one insulated outside — which is exactly the structure behind its August decision to exit direct consumer sales there via third-party partners.

Third-order effects

The episode shows why cross-border platforms end up under US legal exposure: the same China interactions Zoom is now fencing off fed into DOJ charges against a China-based executive and an SEC and US attorney investigation, making jurisdictional separation a compliance necessity rather than a PR gesture.

The trend: Global communication platforms are splitting their Chinese operations from their worldwide user base, because serving both under one policy has become legally untenable.

Discussion

@pocketcasts @pocketcasts on x
Pocket Casts has been removed from the Chinese App store by Apple, at the request of the Cyberspace Administration of China. We believe podcasting is and should remain an open medium, free of government censorship. As such we won't be censoring podcast content at their request.
@bethanyallenebr B. Allen-Ebrahimian on x
NEW: Zoom just confirmed that Chinese govt asked it to close several meetings & accounts engaging in “illegal” activity. Zoom has now promised to develop the ability to block mainland users from certain meetings. Two sets of values for 1 company. https://www.axios.com/...
@benthompson Ben Thompson on x
If Zoom failed to anticipate that the Chinese government might wish to have Chinese participants blocked, why on earth should anyone believe they have anticipated how they will handle a request for for a backdoor or eavesdropping capability? https://blog.zoom.us/... https://twitt…
@zoom_us Zoom on x
We've heard the concerns surrounding Lee Cheuk-yan, Wang Dan, and Zhou Fengsuo's accounts. We've thought a lot about this. Here are the facts and what we're doing about it: https://blog.zoom.us/...
@kurt_loder Kurt Loder on x
Yet another appalling action in an unending succession of same... https://twitter.com/...
@repmichaelwaltz Rep. Michael Waltz on x
The #CCP is silencing its opposition in the US & in China — and @zoom_us, an American company, is helping. Despicable. It's time to wake up to #China's Communist Party's antics. We must act to protect freedom of speech at home & abroad. https://www.axios.com/...
@janiswong_ Janis Wong on x
“Going forward @zoom_us will not allow requests from the Chinese government to impact anyone outside of mainland China.” The fact that Zoom allowed this in the first place is something that everyone should be afraid of, it could be anyone in any country. https://blog.zoom.us/...
@jane_li911 Jane Li on x
Did a follow up on Zoom's suspension of the accounts of overseas Chinese activists with my colleague @maryhui. @ZhouFengSuo , one of the activists affected by the suspension, told me that he did not wish to see Zoom use a geography-based censorship mechanism 1/2 https://twitter.c…
@williamyang120 William Yang on x
So @zoom_us admits that they blocked accounts of Lee Cheuk-yan, @wangdan1989 and @ZhouFengSuo based on requests coming from #Beijing. Moving forward, they will still block accounts inside #China whenever requests from Beijing reach them. How does this ensure open exchange? https:…
@tombschrader Matt Schrader on x
In this sense, Zoom's statement (👇) is just toeing the same line as almost every major American tech company that does business in China. https://twitter.com/...
@kenroth Kenneth Roth on x
Zoom's new line is: it's ok to talk about anything on our platform except if you're in China. If you are, we'll do the work of Beijing's censors and block you. https://twitter.com/...
@mishichoudhary Mishi Choudhary on x
Irresponsible behavior @zoom_us you don't become global company if you are spreading dystopian values. https://twitter.com/...
@rover829 Vincent Lee on x
Blog post from Zoom on China-related censorship: A. China told Zoom about 4 large Tiananmen meetings being publicized, demanded the meetings be terminated B. Zoom did not give any data access, has no backdoors allowing access without being visible 1/n https://blog.zoom.us/...
@rosenbergerlm Laura Rosenberger on x
What's most disturbing about this is Zoom seems to see no problem with being complicit with - and facilitating - China's censorship within its borders. They think their only mistake was with helping the PRC censor outside of China. https://twitter.com/...
@tomgrundy Tom Grundy on x
No specific Chinese law forbids holding a vigil or talking about the Tiananmen Massacre, so @holongsze & I were v.very keen to hear from @zoom_us about what law they thought they were complying with: https://twitter.com/... See also: https://qz.com/... @stegersaurus https://twitt…
@jmulich Jeppe Mulich on x
Maybe academic institutions should be a bit less enthusiastic about going all in on Zoom. https://twitter.com/...
@senrickscott Rick Scott on x
Zoom's decision to bow down to the demands of Communist China is unacceptable. Shutting down accounts that pose no threat, simply because the Chinese Communist Party asked you to, is a slap in the face to those fighting for their human rights. This should never have happened. htt…
@andreaslandwehr Andreas Landwehr on x
Zoom said it deactivated accounts of pro-democracy Chinese activists based in the U.S. at the request of China's government, renewing concerns about the software maker's ties to the communist country https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@sarahleah1 Sarah Leah Whitson on x
Today they shut down #China activists; tomorrow who else? @zoom_us Zoom shuts down pro-democracy activists at request of Chinese govt. https://www.bloomberg.com/... via @technology
@pelstrom Peter Elstrom on x
This explanation of Beijing's view on Zoom ... “China, after all, has a huge market, and we now have measures to counter such actions that are harmful to China. Companies need to consider the consequences of their actions.” https://www.bloomberg.com/... via @technology
@counternotions Kontra on x
Because they have a highly paid security consultant who oversaw the Yahoo and Facebook security debacles advising them? https://twitter.com/...
@zackwhittaker Zack Whittaker on x
Zoom admits to shutting down activists' accounts, who were holding memorials for the victims of China's violent suppression of peaceful protests at Tiananmen Square, at the request of the Chinese government. @jshieber reports. https://techcrunch.com/...

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