Are Yahoo and MSN Helping to Hunt Down Tibet Rioters?

 

Yahoo! China pasted a “most wanted” poster across its homepage today in aid of the police’s witch-hunt for 24 Tibetans accused of taking part in the recent riots. MSN China made the same move, although it didn’t go as far as publishing the list on its homepage.

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The “most wanted” poster has been published on several Chinese portals like Sina.com and news.qq.com. It reads “The Chinese police have issued a warrant for the arrest of suspected rioters in Tibet” and provides a phone number for informants to use in total anonymity. Along with the text are photos of Tibetans taken during the riots. Of the 24 on the list, two have already been caught.

Yahoo Inc was quick to contact The Observers and say that they did not post any pictures of wanted Tibetans. Of course, they don’t deny that Yahoo! China, their subsidiary, did - and nowhere in The Observers’ report do they say that Yahoo Inc was the perpetrator.

Yahoo and MSN have a long and troubled history when it comes to respecting human rights in China. Both outlets, though Yahoo more prominently, have handed over private user data and emails to help China persecute cyber dissidents. Yahoo has given managerial control of Yahoo! China to Alibaba, a Chinese internet company, who evidently has far lower consideration for human rights and privacy than an American company like Yahoo! But the key distinction is that in a situation where Yahoo Inc could have had strong protections for Chinese users and high standards for content created in China, they refused the power in lieu of a set up that allows the Chinese government to use Yahoo! China as an extension of their police state.