Great firewall of China: Facebook creates censorship tool in bid to access the country's 700MILLION internet users 

  • China banned Facebook after Urumqi riots that left 140 people dead
  • The country didn't want information about the unrest being shared
  • Insiders say the social media company has developed a tool where a third party, not Facebook, could block information from users' feeds 

By Reuters

Published: 20:18 EST, 22 November 2016 | Updated: 00:25 EST, 23 November 2016

Facebook has quietly developed a censorship tool that could persuade China to allow the world's biggest social media network to re-enter the world's largest Internet user base with 700million people.

Facebook developed the software, which suppresses posts from appearing in people's news feeds in specific geographies, with the support of Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed current and former employees.

In March, Zuckerberg met China's propaganda tsar Liu Yunshan who said that he hoped Facebook could strengthen exchanges and improve mutual understanding with China's internet companies, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Insiders say Facebook has developed a censorship tool in hopes China will lift its ban on the social networking site 

Where's the firewall? Zuckerberg posted this picture of him jogging in Tiananmen Square when he visited China in March

'We have long said that we are interested in China, and are spending time understanding and learning more about the country,' Facebook spokeswoman Arielle Aryah said in an statement. Zuckerberg, in fact, speaks fluent Mandarin.

'However, we have not made any decision on our approach to China. Our focus right now is on helping Chinese businesses and developers expand to new markets outside China by using our ad platform.'

Foreign companies in China, especially in media, face political pressure from a range of regulations. The country's military newspaper calls the internet the most important front in an ideological battle against 'Western anti-China forces.'

Zuckerberg has long had an interest in China - not surprising as the country has the world's largest base of Internet users with over 700million people

China, which has the world's largest population of internet users with 700million users, according to Forbes, banned the website following the Urumqi riots in July 2009 in an effort to stem the flow of information about ethnic unrest which left 140 people dead.

Though Facebook has developed the new tool, it does not intend to suppress the posts itself, said the paper.

Facebook would instead offer the software to enable a third party to monitor popular stories and topics that gain visibility as users share them across the network. The third party partner would have full control to decide whether those posts should show up in users' feeds.

There is no indication that Facebook has offered the software to the authorities in China, reported the outlet. It is one of many ideas Facebook has discussed with respect to entering China and it may never see the light of day, it added.

Facebook, which has struggled in recent months to combat allegations that it unfairly removes certain content on its service, aims to continue to grow in developing nations where it currently has smaller penetration rates. 

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