Special to WorldTribune.com

Miles Yu, Washington Times

A leading Chinese Communist Party newspaper is savoring Facebook’s decision to block a leading exiled Chinese dissident’s account, praising the company’s voluntary move as yet another sign that Chinese human rights activists deserve punishment not only by the communist government but also by leading Western social media outlets.

On Dec. 28, Liao Yiwu, one of the most prominent Chinese dissidents now in exile in Germany, received a warning from Facebook about posting a photo of a streaking Chinese dissident in Stockholm, who protested the granting of the 2012 Nobel Literature Prize to the pro-government writer Mo Yan. Because the private parts of the protester are covered with a Photoshopped portrait of former dictator Mao Zedong, the iconic photo has been widely circulated in some mainstream media outlets in Europe, and was deemed acceptable by most Internet decency standards. But a couple of days later, Facebook informed Mr. Liao that his account had been suspended, holding out the threat of permanently deleting the account if he does not comply with Facebook’s demands. …

Mr. Liao was furious and believes the incident was an act of self-censorship by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an effort to placate the Chinese government. Mr. Zuckerberg is currently trying to gain market access to China, where Facebook is banned entirely. “I didn’t knuckle under the Communist Party, and I won’t knuckle under [to] Facebook,” Mr. Liao defiantly responded.

Mr. Zuckerberg has been criticized for his eagerness to curry favor with Chinese leaders, highlighted by his invitation of China’s chief Internet regulator and cybercensor to Facebook headquarters in California in early December. During the visit Mr. Zuckerberg proudly displayed to his guest a copy of the selected works of China’s Supreme Leader Xi Jinping.

The Chinese government was delighted by Facebook’s decision to block Mr. Liao’s account. …“Facebook’s actions are decisive. Liao doesn’t only have conflicts with the Chinese government. Western opinion mechanisms cannot bear his behavior either,” wrote the Beijing-based newspaper Global Times in an editorial published Jan. 5. The newspaper is a subsidiary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily. . . . But Global Times went further, turning Facebook’s move into a general indictment against Western criticism of China’s comprehensive censorship and a universal endorsement of the regime’s suppression of the free flow of information. “Blocking [Facebook] accounts shows freedom of speech has limits,” the headline in the Global Times editorial stated.

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