What Can't You Say On China's Social Networks?

An anonymous reader writes "China's 450 million Internet users have taken to social networks in a big way. But these social networking sites, founded on the promise of free expression, have an uneasy existence under an authoritarian regime that punishes certain kinds of expression. This article from IEEE Spectrum tells the story of Sina Weibo, the white-hot social networking phenomenon that has taken over China in the past few years. Citizens have used the microblogging service to protest and rebel — but the Chinese government is getting more sophisticated in its handling of these online grumblings. Side note: an English-language version of Sina Weibo is reportedly on the way. Wonder if it will take off in the US?"

Comments

Re:What Can't You Say On US's Internets?

[poity]

Firstly, none of what you've listed can be considered political censorship, with the exception of possibly wikileaks. Even with wikileaks, no civilian has been arrested in connection with helping the organization, even though its list of donors has been made public.

Secondly, however opposed we both may be to some of the examples of censorship you've listed, every one of the violations is outlined in US law and defined rather clearly. Censorship is a capricious thing in China, where the law is ambiguous -- "disruption of harmony" being an often used one brought out to punish those who voice political criticism and gain attention. In addition, what is illegal to say is never put on record for the public, never made clear. Public outcry is allowed one day, but it is made illegal the next when the party tire of it. The result is that no one knows how far is too far, so everyone practices self-censorship. It is exactly the "chilling effect" slashdotters like to grimly bring up.

Lastly, in the US, you can fight censorship in the courts, and you can win. It would be a fool's errand to attempt to do so in China where there is no ACLU, no EFF, and where the courts are independent only in the propaganda pages. Saying the US has its own problems with censorship is certainly relevant and true, but using the same wording to subtly imply that the US and China are equal in its suppression of speech is over-dramatic and ignorant of reality in the eyes of this Chinese American slashdotter.