HONG KONG – Chinese-born billionaire, Guo Wengei who resides in America has flooded accusations of corruption against family members of highly ranked Chinese Communist Party officials. China’s government had asked Interpol to order an arrest on him, this week.
Facebook had suspended Wengei’s account on Friday, but after he publicly complained about it the account was unsuspended while Facebook said it was a mistake.
This occurred in heat of a full-court press by the Chinese government to go against the accusations made by the billionaire. It presents a regular problem for Facebook, which should distinguish matters between bad manners and high-staked political competition on a website like Facebook that has close to two billion users.
Facebook has been in a length and public courtship with China, which blocks users from using the site in the country. Last year, the New York Times stated that Facebook had created a tool that would enable third parties to censor the social network to try and enter the market.
On Friday morning, Wengei tweeted saying that his public Facebook account was suspended.
“What does this mean, Facebook blocked me?” he stated in a post. “They must have gotten really scared! Can this stop my revelations? This is truly lawless. This is very interesting. Their fear and worry makes me think that the value of my various evidence is bigger than what I had imagined.”
Many responded back to Wengei sharing photos of Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, and meeting with established Chinese politicians.
A Facebook spokeswoman said that Wengei’s account was blocked in error by its automated system, but once the company successfully investigated the error, the account was fully restored. The reasoning for the suspension would be hard to configure, the spokeswoman said, stating that publicizing the reasoning could allow for others to hack into the system.
Wengei has not responded to requests to comment on the matter.
Prior to an interview with Voice of America, Wengei said something regarding a “nuclear bomb” of allegations, where China asked Interpol to arrest him. The Chinese government has been pressuring the broadcaster to not air the interview.
Wengei has been residing outside of China for two years after a brokerage deal fell through. He has been accused of using $8 million to bribe a former top intelligence official, according to the South China Morning Post. Wengei has denied these claims.
In the past, Facebook has stirred controversy for blocking posts from a high-profile Chinese activist that involved nudity and a post from a Tibetan activist that demonstration self-immolation.
Some Chinese activists have complained about having accounts like Facebook amongst other platforms suspended without an explanation. Some users responded to Wengei’s post bringing up a theory that China’s government has a database of foreign social media accounts to report accounts such as Wengei’s so they are eventually suspended.
The Facebook spokeswoman said that the social media platform doesn’t remove postings based on the amount of times it has been reported to them.
