{"id":181264,"date":"2015-02-11T18:34:02","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T02:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=181264"},"modified":"2015-02-11T22:42:30","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T06:42:30","slug":"china-snuffs-last-online-remnants-ny-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2015\/02\/china-snuffs-last-online-remnants-ny-times\/","title":{"rendered":"China Snuffs Out Last Online Remnants of the NY Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

At The Diplomat, David Dawson reports that the Weibo accounts of the New York Times and several of the paper’s employees have been deleted<\/strong><\/a>. The New York Times’ English-<\/a> and Chinese-language web portals have been blocked<\/a> in China since October 2012, following\u00a0the paper’s publication of an\u00a0expos\u00e9 on the wealth accumulated by\u00a0the family of former premier Wen Jiabao<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Inquiries with Sina Weibo regarding the reason for the shutdown were answered with three very telling characters \u2013 \u7f51\u7ba1\u529e (wang guan ban<\/em>) \u2013 the Internet control authorities.<\/p>\n

Given the timing of the removal of all three accounts on the same day as well as the reasons cited, it seems clear this is a direct move to remove the last vestiges of the New York Times<\/em> from Chinese cyberspace \u2013 regardless of what content they were spreading. If this is the case, this shutdown is likely to be permanent.<\/p>\n

The New York Times\u2019<\/em> Sina Weibo account didn\u2019t tackle subjects with the same sensitivity as those in the publication, which is probably why it outlasted the other social media accounts of the Chinese edition of the newspaper. The Times<\/em> previously boasted a number of verified Sina Weibo accounts as well as a WeChat account and a mobile app. One by one they have all succumbed. […] [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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China Snuffs out Last Online Remnants of the New York Times http:\/\/t.co\/YcRRxtXho2<\/a> (they also killed off most of our staff weibo accounts)<\/p>\n

— Andrew Jacobs (@AndrewJacobsNYT) February 11, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n