Google’s Eric Schmidt claims social media will liberalise China
Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, has voiced confidence that growing social media usage in China will have real-world ramifications in terms of a liberalisation of the Communist state’s notorious censorship laws.
His comments come just weeks after the Chinese government passed stringent new regulations on the sector; fuelled by indigenous twists on western sites such as Weibo and WeChat, by mandating severe penalties for ‘libellous’ stories which are reposted more than 500 times.
Speaking at an event in London organised by Chatham House Schmidt said: "The most interesting thing about talking to the government, from the president all the way to the governors, is that they are obsessed with the Internet, which is why they passed these laws.
"You simply cannot imprison enough Chinese people when they all agree to something. You won't be able to stop it even if you don't like it, and it will cause a liberalisation.”
Google was forced to withdraw from the Chinese mainland and set up shop in Hong Kong back on 2010 after it said rampant censorship there was hampering its work.
Schmidt’s sentiments echo those of WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell who has predicted that the world’s 2nd largest economy will be the source of the next economic boom.