A letter that CCTV reported was written by a group of 27 Google advertising resellers protesting the company’s actions in China (mentioned in this CDT post) is likely fake, Business Week reports:
The letter, published yesterday on state-run China Central Television’s Web site and received by Google, is “likely a fake,” said Gao Min, who’s in charge of Google ad sales at Beijing Zoom Interactive Media Co. Shenzhen Winkee Networking Co., also included among the 27 partners CCTV tied to the letter, denied signing it.
“The fact that somebody has organized such a large group of independent companies together into an alliance seems quite implausible,” said Isaac Mao, a former fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society.
… “I have checked with the head of the company and other relevant officials and found out we haven’t sent or signed any such letter,” said Feng Mingming, the sales representative in charge of Google ads at Shenzhen Winkee.
All Internet service providers in China must have their licenses reviewed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in March, though the agency may extend the reviews for some companies into April, Shawn Zhao, Google’s managing counsel for greater China, said in Hong Kong after speaking at a legal industry conference yesterday.
Jessica Powell, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman at Google, declined to say yesterday if Google plans to renew its license.
