The NBA has disgraced itself by kowtowing to China and importing the regime’s authoritarian tactics into the United States. But not every U.S. corporation is willing to sacrifice principle for profit.
Take, for example, Facebook. The social media giant has been gradually dismantling China’s grip on social media for the past few years, and last month it slapped down yet another attempt by the Chinese government to use its platform to spy on and intimidate pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
Facebook cut off China’s “hotlines” on WhatsApp, a messaging platform owned by the corporation, that Chinese officials had planned to use to collect intelligence via photos and videos of activity in Hong Kong. As soon as Facebook found out about China’s plan, it suspended all of the regime’s accounts within 72 hours.
Of course, Chinese officials tried to write it off as a decision they had made due to “mixed reviews” of WhatsApp, but Facebook confirmed that that had not been the case.
“WhatsApp is primarily designed for private messaging and we take action to prevent bulk and automated messaging,” a company spokesperson said, according to Forbes.
Twitter, too, has been cracking down on China’s attempts to use its platform as a means to spread international disinformation about the Hong Kong protests. In August, Twitter said it had discovered a “significant state-backed information operation” designed to discredit the Hong Kong protests. The social media company said it suspended 936 total accounts, most of which used VPNs since Twitter is blocked in China. Twitter even created a new rule, announcing it would no longer accept advertising from explicitly state-controlled media organizations, such as Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency.
Say what you will about Facebook and Twitter, but both should serve as examples for U.S. corporations unwilling to stand up to China’s authoritarianism. Certainly, neither social media giant is beyond reproach: They could do more to promote free speech in China and, more importantly, in the U.S. But at least they’re not kicking off pro-Hong Kong users, as the NBA did this week with a few of its fans. At least they haven’t set up an office in China’s Xinjiang region, home to nearly one million imprisoned Muslims, as the NBA did with one of its training camps.
Facebook and Twitter are willing to stand up to China’s attempts to abuse their networks, and they have refused to apologize for it. Can the NBA say the same?
