Zoom admits ‘mistakes’ after banning human rights campaigners using its video calls to commemorate Tiananmen Square
Video calling app Zoom has admitted making “mistakes” after shutting down the accounts of human rights campaigners using its service to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre.
The US-headquartered tech firm, which has enjoyed profitable growth to over 300 million users under coronavirus lockdowns, said Chinese government officials “demanded” it took action against virtual meetings marking the 31st anniversary of the brutal suppression of the student-led pro-democracy protests.
The ruling Communist Party is extremely sensitive about online content related to the military crackdown on 4 June 1989, which is detected, censored and blocked inside the country’s restricted internet, dubbed "the Great Firewall of China", by advanced analytics tools.
Western tech giants are often pressured to remove or modify content seen by users inside the country on their services.
However, Zoom now says that under Beijing's pressure it “fell short” after it "terminated or suspended" accounts belonging to users in the US and Hong Kong, both separate legal jurisdictions.
The company said in a statement: “The Chinese government informed us that this activity is illegal in China and demanded that Zoom terminate the meetings and host accounts.”
Zoom’s admission came as Twitter announced it had removed more than 170,000 accounts linked to China-backed influence operations related to the Hong Kong protests, Covid-19 and US demonstrations over the death of George Floyd.
The Zoom account suspensions, first revealed by news site Axios, were sparked after key dissidents hosted a session for more than 250 people worldwide last month commemorating the massacre’s 31st anniversary.
They included a “significant number” of participants from mainland China who had dialled in to the video call, which was also live-streamed on social media to a further 4,000 people.
Those present at the online event on 31 May included former student leaders, dissidents, writers, scholars and the Tiananmen Mothers group, which was established by parents who lost children in the massacre.
The death toll estimate ranges from several hundred victims into the thousands after several weeks of protests were crushed when troops entered the central Beijing square and fired on civilians.
The virtual commemorations were designed to give “many the opportunity to connect with activists across the world for the first time”, campaigners said.
But afterwards, Zhou Fengsuo, a former student leader in the 1989 protests and now founder of American-based Humanitarian China, said his account was suspended.
Mr Zhou told Axios: "As the most commercially popular meeting software worldwide, Zoom is essential as an unbanned outreach to Chinese audiences remembering and commemorating Tiananmen Massacre during the coronavirus pandemic."
Former Hong Kong politician and pro-democracy activist Lee Cheuk Yan also said his account was closed but he has not had a response from Zoom after raising concerns.
Wang Dan, another prominent former student leader living in exile in the US, told the Financial Times that Zoom calls he made on 4 June were twice cancelled and two of his team’s paid accounts remained suspended.
Zoom said it has “reinstated” three host accounts that had been “suspended or terminated”.
The tech firm added it would no longer allow such requests affecting users “outside of mainland China”.
Now Twitter has announced 23,750 “highly engaged” core accounts and about 150,000 “amplifier” accounts broadcasting content have been removed from its platform.
Australian research has found such campaigns on Twitter, which is banned by the People's Republic of China, had sought to target Chinese-speaking audiences to “influence perceptions” or “weaponise” global issues for strategic advantage.