Chinese Microblogs Shut for Maintenance
Economic Observer, 7/14/10
Chinese internet portal Netease's (Nasdaq: NTES) microblogging service (t.163.com) shut down yesterday evening, displaying a "closed for maintenance" message. The suspension of service follows the temporary closure of Sohu's (Nasdaq: SOHU) microblogging platform over the weekend, and the addition of "beta" to the logos for Sina (Nasdaq: SINA), Tencent (0700.HK), and Netease's microblogs.
Following these incidents, Sina's microblog also began internal reforms. Editor-in-chief Chen Tong sent out an internal memo stating that employees must inform Sina's internal monitoring department of microblogs to be deleted, and should consult Chen if unsure whether to ban a specific user or not.
A Sohu customer service representative confirmed that Sohu's microblog was closed between Friday evening and Monday, but that the closure was in order to conduct maintenance, not as a result of any government orders.
Liu Qi, deputy GM of Sina.com's marketing center, denied that the recent affixation of "beta" to the microblog's logo was done at the behest of the government or in response to Sina's competitors, and said users need not worry that the service will be shut down. Liu said the website has been in a continuous beta trial stage since launching in August last year.
Keywords: Chen Tong Netease Internet monitoring Tencent Sina Sohu 0700.HK microblogging NTES Liu Qi regulation
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