Chinese netizens think Mark Zuckerberg betrayed China

The Facebook CEO has been widely admired in China, but his more recent negative comments about the country aren’t going over well

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Mark Zuckerberg attends the Economic Summit of China Development Forum 2016 in Beijing. (Picture: Xinhua)

Xinmei Shen

Published: 10:04pm, 18 Nov 2019Updated: 3:47am, 19 Nov 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

There was a time when Mark Zuckerberg seemed to like China and China liked him back. But recent comments from the Facebook CEO now have some Chinese internet users saying he’s betraying the country.

Following recent speeches showing Zuckerberg taking a harder line on China, one article circulating on WeChat was vividly titled “‘China’s good son-in-law’ Zuckerberg suddenly stabbed his ‘father-in-law’ in the back.”

The sense of betrayal might stem from the fact that it was just a few years ago when Zuckerberg was actively trying to woo China. With tensions rising between the US and China, Zuckerberg has recently been taking a very different stance.

Mark Zuckerberg and overseas representatives of the China Development Forum applauding the arrival of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in 2016. (Picture: Reuters)

In comments championing free expression and advocating for less scrutiny of Facebook, Zuckerberg repeatedly brought up China. He defended Facebook’s decision to allow potentially misleading political campaign ads by criticising censorship in China.

“Is that the internet we want?” Zuckerberg asked last month, claiming that clashing values is one reason Facebook doesn’t operate in China. Facebook.com is famously blocked in China, but the company does operate in the country and generates an estimated 10 per cent of its annual revenue – about US$5 billion – from businesses there.