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A Chinese YouTube Disappears, Along With Millions Of Western Dollars. Next?
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by mtippett | July 7, 2008 at 09:05 am
398 views | 16 Recommendations | 6 comments
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There is speculation that the Chinese government is starting to crack down on what they see as unofficial media. We'll have to see how this develops as the Olympics starts up. My guess is that we'll see even more restrictions on Chinese media.
For the past year, three sites--Tudou, Youku and 56.com--have been battling to become the "YouTube of China," soaking up nearly $200 million in venture capital funding along the way.
Now, there appear to be just two: 56.com, a site that raised $30 million and recently announced a partnership with the National Basketball Association, shut down without explanation on June 3. A message in Mandarin says the site is undergoing an unspecified server upgrade. The company hasn't issued a statement on the outage, and its' executives and investors have been strangely silent. Speculation, of course, is that the site has been shut down by the Chinese government.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (6)
at 09:08 on July 7th, 2008
mtippett, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 09:22 on July 7th, 2008
mtippett, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 09:24 on July 7th, 2008
And there's no more censorship in China? Right.
at 10:44 on July 7th, 2008
May 1, 2008
Statement by the President on World Press Freedom Day
In 2007, for the ninth consecutive year, China remained the world's top jailer of journalists, followed by Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, and Azerbaijan.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/05/20080501-9.html
July 6, 2008
President Bush Participates in Joint Press Availability with Prime Minister Fukuda of Japan
I happen to believe not going to the opening games would be -- the Opening Ceremony for the Games would be an affront to the Chinese people, which may make it more difficult to have a -- to be able to speak frankly with the Chinese leadership.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/07/20080706.html
at 14:06 on July 7th, 2008
A decent primer on the Chinese censorship apparatus can be found here:
Information Atrophy: Living with Chinese Internet Censorship
at 15:13 on July 7th, 2008
mtippett, I like this story. It's good stuff.