The organizer of Hong Kong’s annual vigil for the victims of China’s Tiananmen Square Massacre yesterday said that his account with Zoom Video Communications Inc was suspended after trying to host an online discussion about Beijing’s global influence.
His statement came after Zoom had said that it temporarily closed a US account used by activists who tried to connect more than 250 people to remember Beijing’s crushing of the pro-democracy movement on June 4, 1989.
That revelation sparked concerns that the US videoconferencing app, which has soared in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, is bowing to China’s authoritarian government.
Photo: AFP
Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人), chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance, said that he has been locked out of Zoom since May 22 when his group tried to host an online discussion on China’s influence around the world.
“The account was suspended before the talk started. I’ve asked Zoom many times whether this is political censorship, but it has never replied to me,” Lee said, adding that the alliance held two previous talks on Zoom without issues.
Once locked out, the alliance broadcasted on Facebook and YouTube, which are allowed in Hong Kong, but banned in China, he said.
The May 22 talk contained no speakers from China, but the alliance has always sought ways to reach people beyond China’s Great Firewall and Zoom can be used there, Lee said.
Zoom has said that it reactivated the account of a US-based group of Chinese pro-democracy advocates, after earlier closing the account “to comply with local laws.”
“Just like any global company, we must comply with applicable laws in the jurisdictions where we operate,” a Zoom spokesman said in a statement. “When a meeting is held across different countries, the participants within those countries are required to comply with their respective local laws. We aim to limit the actions we take to those necessary to comply with local laws and continuously review and improve our process on these matters. We have reactivated the US-based account.”
Zoom, which maintains a significant research and development workforce in China, has come under scrutiny for its links to the country.
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