Is Zuckerberg selling his soul for Facebook access to China?
Mark Zuckerberg recently went on an all-out charm offensive to curry favor with China’s government. His visit may have played well with Chinese officials, but from this side of the Pacific, it looked as if he was willing to sell his soul to gain access to the Chinese market.
Facebook had an estimated 1.59 billion users by the fourth quarter of 2015, but it’s still denied access to China, the world’s biggest Internet market, where more than 721 million people have Internet access. Zuckerberg has long coveted that market. He’s gone so far as to learn Mandarin, and though conquering China has never been among the reasons he has cited for doing so (his wife’s Chinese background was the main factor, he says), being able to butter up Chinese officials in their own language doesn’t hurt.
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