YouTube Suspends Account of Popular Chinese Dissident (freebeacon.com)

schwit1 brings news about an exiled Chinese billionaire with 500,000 followers on YouTube. The Washington Free Beacon reports:YouTube has suspended the video account of popular Chinese dissident Guo Wengui amid a mounting pressure from the Beijing government to silence one of its critics. According to a person familiar with the action, YouTube issued what the company calls a 'strike' against Guo, who since the beginning of the year has created an online sensation by posting lengthy videos in which he reveals details of corruption by senior Chinese officials. The suspension involves a 90-day block on any new live-stream postings of videos and was the result of a complaint made against a recent Guo video for alleged harassment. The identity of the person or institution who issued the complaint could not be learned... Other videos by Guo posted prior to the suspension remain accessible.
The suspension coincides with this week's once-every-five-years congress of the Chinese Communist party to reveal which top officials will serve President Xi Jinping, according to Financial Times, adding that "China's choreographed politics is not designed for public participation or questioning."

Comments

Well...

[BlueStrat]

...I, for one, welcome our Chinese internet overlords.

Strat

Re:Well...

[Stephen Battleware]

I seriously might to have to re-evalutate how much YouTube watching I do.

This is the problem with (de facto) monopolies, the few alternatives were long left out to dry and don't have the content.

I hope Slashdot tracks the developments. Perhaps YouTube will reverse this darksided decision.

Re:Well...

[BlueStrat]

The dudeâ(TM)s a billionaire. Heâ(TM)s obviously not exactly suffering due to the persecution from the repressive Chinese government - sounds like heâ(TM)s more of a gadfly than a dissident.

So if you're not poor and/or personally oppressed (maybe you were lucky enough/smart enough to escape?), then you have no right to oppose corruption/oppression occurring in your own birth-country?

Can you break down the qualifiers for these various social classes and their respective rights/responsibilities/entitlements, please? We need a handy guide so we don't overstep our class privilege and speak out of turn, and thus possibly disrespect our class betters.

TIA

Strat

Re: Well...

[Anonymous Coward]

First they came for the gamer gaters and I said nothing because muh sexual harassment you can see because I forgot to log into my shill account.

Then they demonetized the right and I said nothing because Drumpf is surely finished now!!!!!!!!!!

Next they came for Chinese dissidents and I said nothing because where will we get our cheap products from if we don't bend over for China?

Finally they came for me and no one said anything because the only protected victim class left are transspecies centaurs with cutie mark tattoos and surgically attached literal horse cocks.

GOOGLE == EVIL

[Tulsa_Time]

You knew it was only a matter of time.

Re:GOOGLE == EVIL

[bobstreo]

Didn't take long from Do No Evil to Anything for a Buck. I blame the MBA mentality that is in charge now.

Re:GOOGLE == EVIL

[Dutch Gun]

After reading the article, it's not just Google, but Facebook that's shutting him down as well. He claims he was never even contacted about this. Christ, how much influence over these tech giants does the Chinese government have? Obviously, this sort of subservience is the price you pay for access to the Chinese market.

Where the hell are the social liberals running these companies when they blindly obey orders from the Chinese government? Fucking hypocrites, all of them.

Using a Chinese security official who currently heads the international police organization Interpol, China succeeded in issuing an Interpol "red notice," or an international arrest warrant for alleged corruption.

Ah, wonderful. The head of Interpol is a Chinese security officer? I didn't know that. I sort of wish I hadn't learned that. What the hell...

Re:GOOGLE == EVIL

[leonbev]

I would be nice if the SJW's that were so eager to get James Damore fired for that memo he wrote a few months ago would apply similar pressure against Google for this offense against free speech.

I doubt it's going to happen, though.

Re:GOOGLE == EVIL

[0123456]

"Where the hell are the social liberals running these companies when they blindly obey orders from the Chinese government?"

'Social liberals' love the Chinese government, because they all dream of being dictators. Look at Turdeau, for example, talking about how he admires Chinese dictatorship.

Capitalism vs. Democracy - no competition.

[should_be_linear]

To think capitalism is compatible with democracy in the long run is simply foolish. Any company doing "good" eventually figures, that Chinese market is very big and very important, spying on Assange is necessary, donating millions to Republicans is unfortunate but good idea, etc. Also, power of capitalism is also so big, it can easily crush any rebellion, see Occupy case as an example. Both democracy and poor chinese guy are doomed anyway, as Google figured out.

Big brand thinks of making a profit in China

[AHuxley]

Capitalism? Freedom of speech? Freedom after speech?
All the best protections a nation like the USA can offer, protect and support...
What does a US big brand do?
Work extra hard to embrace and side with Communism and China.
Is this what the internet and "social media" will look like? Communist parties tracking any content globally?
US brands comply with removing free speech?
What will be banned next?
Tiananmen square? 4 June 1989?
Tank Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
No more terms like Flower of Freedom? Goddess of Democracy? Operation Yellowbird https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/..., River elegy?

Re:I'm not sure you can call him a "dissident"

[ShanghaiBill]

His videos make specific allegations against specific people. Why don't you refute the allegations instead of attacking him personally?

That he may have been corrupt himself makes his allegations more credible, not less, since it means he knows how the system works.