20130219 Former Google official barred from China¡¦s ¡¥weibo¡¦
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Former Google official barred from China¡¦s ¡¥weibo¡¦

Bloomberg

Taiwanese-born Lee Kai-fu (§õ¶}´_), the former head of Google Inc¡¦s China division, said he was banned for three days from posting on Chinese microblogging sites, where he has more than 30 million followers.

The ban applies to Sina Corp¡¦s (·s®ö) Weibo and a similar service run by Tencent Holdings (ÄË°T), Lee said on Sunday on Twitter¡¦s microblogging site. Lee, who has about 1 million followers on Twitter, confirmed the posting by telephone.

¡§I¡¦ve been silenced on Sina and Tencent for three days, so everyone can come here to find me,¡¨ he said on Twitter, without giving a reason.

Lee, who is now chairman and chief executive officer of Innovation Works, a Beijing-based technology-business incubator, declined to elaborate.

Lee has used weibo sites to complain about China¡¦s Internet controls. A Feb. 16 post summarized a Wall Street Journal article about how slow speeds and instability deter overseas businesses from locating critical functions in China. He also questioned the Chinese government¡¦s decision to help fund a search engine with taxpayers¡¦ money.

Last month, he also posted support for staff of a Guangzhou-based newspaper during a standoff with government censors.

¡§You can be outspoken with 1 or 2 million fans, or a few hundred thousand, but 30 million followers is like a provincial radio or TV station,¡¨ Beijing-based independent technology industry consultant Bill Bishop said. ¡§I don¡¦t know how many other people have that many.¡¨

Beijing-based Sina spokesman Liu Qi (¼B©_) declined to comment. Shenzhen-based Tencent director of investor relations Jerry Huang did not respond to a telephone message and e-mail seeking comment.

Pu Zhiqiang (®ú§Ó±j), a Chinese civil rights lawyer, also had his Sina Weibo account blocked after he accused Zhou Yongkang (©P¥Ã±d) on a microblog of human rights violations when Zhou was secretary of the Chinese Communist Party¡¦s Central Political and Legislative Committee from 2007 to last year.

Zhou was a much-reviled official who allegedly cracked down hard on dissent in the interest of ¡§maintaining social stability¡¨ during his time in that job.

Widely circulated microblogging posts in recent days said that Pu¡¦s repeated efforts to open new accounts proved unsuccessful because they were shut down as soon as he set them up.

Additional reporting by CNA

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