Zoom Shuts Down Chinese Activist Group's Account Over Tiananmen Square Event
Zoom shut down the account of a Chinese activist group in the US after the organization used the video conferencing service to hold an event commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
On May 31, the group, Humanitarian China, held the event on Zoom to mark the 31st anniversary of the protests. However, on June 7, the organization’s paid account was shut down, according to Axios, which was first to report the news.
Zoom has not responded to our requests for an explanation,” Humanitarian China said in a statement, which adds: “We are outraged by this act from Zoom, a US company.”
Zoom, which is based in San Jose, California, isn’t denying the account was shut down. The company indicated to PCMag it had to crack down on the meeting because some of the attendees were based in China, a country that generally censors content concerning the Tiananmen Square protests.
“We must comply with applicable laws in the jurisdictions where we operate,” Zoom 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.”
Over 250 people attended the Zoom meeting, with a "significant portion" based in China, according to the activist group. "Invited speakers were detained or put under house arrests to stop them from this conference," added Zhou Fengsuo, founder of Humanitarian China.
Media coverage of the shutdown appears to have prompted Zoom to reverse its decision to suspend the account, presumably because the activist group is based in the US, and not in China. "We have reactivated the US-based account," the company told PCMag.