Crossing the Great Wall of social
networks
Marine Duvivier-Bouclet
Chloé Tournier
Facebook may be developing a new proprietary censorship
tool that would delete content deemed harmful in specific countries. Mark
Zuckerberg, the social network’s founder, seems to be personally promoting this
mechanism. The main goal is to attempt a comeback in China, where Facebook was
forbidden in 2009.
The “Great Firewall”, Beijing’s censorship
system, already blocks internet giants like Twitter, Instagram and Google. Now
a cybersecurity law passed in November 2016 will allow the Chinese government
to control data flows, technologies and information systems used by companies
within the country even more precisely. Web companies working in business
sectors linked to “critical” Chinese infrastructure will also be obliged to
undergo security inspections and to house the personal data of their users on
Chinese servers. Since August 2014, Apple has voluntarily conformed to this
policy; AirBnb fell into line last
month.
Now, to keep pace with his competitors, Mark
Zuckerberg is trying to reimplant Facebook in China. Most agree that Zuckerberg’s motivation is
mainly economic. With almost 620 million internauts China represents the
world’s largest population of web users, and this number isn’t about to
fall. Furthermore, China invests heavily
in communication; if it invested in Facebook, by using the platform to display
tourist-oriented advertisements, the multibillion dollar internet behemoth
could stand to earn even more money. The ultimate challenge for Facebook is to
do as well as companies like Apple and Airbnb, which have managed to reconcile
Chinese internet regulations with their own interests. Reciprocally, Vaughan
Smith, Vice President of Corporate Development at Facebook, said its goal was
to help Chinese companies and developers reach new markets.
Nonetheless, Facebook isn't out of the woods
yet. China already has its own social network, WeChat, which would threaten
Facebook’s popularity. Moreover, China’s requirements for internet stakeholders
are difficult to meet. This is why the new software developed by Facebook is
especially strict, automatically censoring tendentious posts before they appear
in discussion threads. This raises ethical concerns for many: some software
developers may have even left the company because they disapproved of this
process. Ironically, according to China, this is only about facilitating
Chinese users’ connexions, and has nothing to do with censorship. Foreign
companies are welcome as long as they respect Chinese laws -- which doesn’t
leave much room for compromise.
Putting Facebook’s image at stake by complying
with controversial Chinese regulations might be a risky gamble.
http://www.courrierinternational.com/article/reseaux-sociaux-facebook-pret-aider-la-censure-en-chine
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