Zoom suspended the U.S.-based account of activists marking the anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown on its platform, drawing criticism that the firm whose product has quickly become ubiquitous in quarantine life is not committed to protecting free speech.
On May 31, the U.S.-based human rights campaign group Humanitarian China used Zoom to connect a group of more than 250 people to commemorate June 4, 1989 — the day Beijing violently crushed peaceful pro-democracy protests in the heart of the capital, killing anywhere from several hundred to thousands of participants. Numerous people dialed in to the virtual event from within China.
A week later, on June 7, the group’s paid Zoom account was shut down without explanation. It was reactivated again on Wednesday.
Zoom has admitted it shut down the account, saying it was complying with “local laws.” In a statement, it explained, “Just like any global company, we must comply with applicable laws in the jurisdictions where we operate.”
Humanitarian China shot back in a statement that “if so, Zoom is complicit in erasing the memories of the Tiananmen Massacre in collaboration with an authoritarian government.”
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The period around June 4 is one of the most politically sensitive times of the year for China, whose repressive censorship regime kicks into even higher gear around the anniversary. The highly monitored Chinese internet is scrubbed of all references to the event itself.
Zoom is not currently blocked by China’s “Great Firewall” of censorship, meaning it is accessible in the mainland without a VPN.
Activist Zhou Fengsuo, one of the Humanitarian China co-founders and the Tiananmen dissident who was at the top of Beijing’s most-wanted list after the incident, told the South China Morning Post that their Zoom meeting was the first time so many high-profile people with direct ties to the 1989 movement had gathered together. The group included the mother of a slain protester, multiple exiled student leaders like Zhou and a protester jailed for 17 years for his participation, among others.
“I’m very angry, of course, that even in this country, in the United States … we have to be prepared for this kind of censorship,” he told the paper.
Zhou’s activism has led him to other run-ins with Western internet firms toeing the Chinese Communist Party line. Last year, LinkedIn chose to hide his page from mainland users, saying the company had to comply with Chinese government requirements. After public outcry, it later reinstated the page.
PEN America, a nonprofit focused on defending free speech, said in a statement that Zoom should take action to reassure users that it stands against government-imposed censorship.
“We wouldn’t tolerate it if a phone company cut off service for someone expressing their views in a conference call; we shouldn’t tolerate it in the digital space either,” its CEO Suzanne Nossel said.
Zoom may seek to be the platform of choice for companies, schools and organizations during the pandemic, but “it can’t serve that role and act as the long arm of the Chinese government. You don’t get to have it both ways,” she added.