Marriott Hotels stopped posting to any of their social media accounts around the world for over a week shortly after being accused of breaking cybersecurity and advertisement law by the Chinese government.
The Verge reports that shortly after being accused of breaking cybersecurity and advertisement laws by the Chinese government, the Marriott Hotel chain stopped posting to social media for approximately a week. Marriott was accused by the Chinese government on January 11 and only resumed posting to social media late on January 18. The Marriott’s Chinese website and mobile app were shut down by the Shanghai government as punishment for sending a Mandarin-language survey to guests which listed Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau as separate countries, which is strictly forbidden in China.
This survey also caused quite a reaction on social media from Chinese citizens who posted comments such as “get out of China” and “remember! people’s republic of china! only one! marriott hotels roll out of china!” across the Marriotts many social media pages. Arne Sorenson, the CEO of Marriott Hotels, issued a public statement saying, Marriott International respects and supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China… We don’t support anyone who subverts the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China and we do not intend in any way to encourage or incite any such people or groups. We recognize the severity of the situation and sincerely apologize.”
Although it was only Marriotts official website and mobile app shut down by the Chinese government, nearly every single social media account associated with the company around the world also went dark, even accounts for US-based Marriott chains. The list of accounts affected is as follows:
Bloomberg News Asia technology correspondent David Ramli noticed the silence from the brand tweeting his discovery,
Almost all of Marriott’s many global accounts stopped tweeting on Jan 10, followed by a capitulating apology on Jan 11. Since then, its accounts have only sent replies. If it turns out this was ordered by Chinese authorities it greatly changes the calculus of doing business here. https://t.co/G8bf2hs6zf
— David Ramli (@Davidramli) January 18, 2018
A representative for Marriott told The Verge, “We proactively suspended some of the activity as we were reviewing our content strategy. It was not mandated by the Chinese government. Social media activity has resumed already in the Americas and Europe and globally by tomorrow.” This would appear to show Marriott’s commitment to staying active in the Chinese market — given that this market brings in approximately $64.8 billion a year for the company, this is no surprise.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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