April 29th, 2007
MySpace China, a place for censorship
The look and feel of MySpace China may resemble its US cousin, but its editorial policy couldn't be more different. Perhaps an inevitable concession to doing business in the country, News Corp. and its local Chinese partners have implemented filtering software to prohibit users from discussing topics such as Taiwanese independence, the 'Fa Lun' religious movement or the Dalai Lama. Additionally, users are encouraged to report 'misconduct' by others.
From Texyt.com:
Users are told to click a button if they spot any 'misconduct' by other users. This 'misconduct' includes actions such as 'endangering national security, leaking state secrets, subverting the government, undermining national unity, spreading rumors or disturbing the social order' – according to the site's terms and conditions.
Attempts to post on topics that are deemed inappropriate by the Chinese government will result in the message: "Sorry, the article you want to publish may contain inappropriate content. Please delete the unsuitable content, and then try reposting it. Thank you." Even searching for blacklisted keywords results in the same warning.
Doing business in China certainly has some deep moral as well as technical challenges. My first instinct upon reading about MySpace China's terms and conditions and its filtering software was that this was News Corp. selling out its users and doing more evil than Google has ever done — particularly with regards to encouraging users to 'spy' on others. However, with regards to using filtering — in a perverse kind of way — MySpace may actually be protecting its Chinese users (as well as itself). Were users able to freely publish discussions on banned topics then the site could soon become a honey trap used by the government as a mechanism for tracking down and punishing dissidents.
On the other hand, MySpace could just refuse to do business in China at all — which in my view would be the morally right thing to do. But it's a massively growing and lucrative market which means that companies are much more likely to bend rather than turn their back on such riches.
Steve O'Hear is a London-based consultant, educator, and journalist, focussing on the Internet and all aspects of digital technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
