Raising speech fears, Zoom briefly shuts account over TiananmenZhou Fengsuo, seen here in New York in 2019, was a leader of the Tiananmen Square student uprisingWASHINGTON - Zoom said Wednesday that it had temporarily closed a US account of activists who met to mark the anniversary of China's crackdown in Tiananmen Square, raising alarm over free speech on the fast-growing video-meeting service. The group Humanitarian China said it had brought in numerous participants from inside China, which has tried to erase memories of the bloodshed -- and that its paid Zoom account was shut down without explanation one week later. Zhou Fengsuo, a co-founder of the group who was number one on Beijing's most-wanted list after the Tiananmen crackdown, told AFP that the Zoom account was reactivated on Wednesday. It called Zoom an "essential" resource in reaching audiences inside China, which rigorously enforces censorship. With its alluring market, China has long been problematic for US tech giants that generally boast of allowing unfettered free speech at home.

Source: Bangkok Post June 10, 2020 23:03 UTC