Feminist activist group Feminist Voices are preparing to sue WeChat and Weibo after their organisation’s account was deleted.
According to The Malaysian Insight, feminist activist group Feminist Voices are planning to sue China’s biggest social media platforms.
Lu Pin, the founder of Feminist Voices said the organisation was told by Weibo customer services that their account could not be reactivated because the group had posted “sensitive and illegal information”.
Since its creation in 2010, Feminist Voices has garnered over 250,000 followers.
The group discovered that their Feminist Voices account on Weibo was deleted on International Women’s Day, 8 March. The following day, the group’s WeChat account was also deleted.
Lu said Feminist Voices had been temporarily suspended in the past and individual posts had been deleted but added, “this time, they say it’s a permanent deletion“. Last year, the group was temporary blocked after it translated parts of an American article that called for a general women’s strike against Donald Trump.
Feminist Voices have since complained to the government department in charge of the internet and to the All-China Women’s Federation. It now intends to sue the Chinese social media giants.
Feminist Voices has “already begun legal procedures, and is preparing to sue Weibo and WeChat”, Lu said.
Lu also personally reached out to Harry Potter actress Emma Watson, who she deemed as “one of the feminist idols held in highest esteem by young Chinese women”.
“We are struggling to reactivate our accounts so that we can continue our work, and are asking you to demonstrate your open support for Feminist Voices on Twitter,” Lu tweeted.
Weibo and Tencent have not responded.
China’s ruling Communist Party runs one of the world’s most restrictive online censorship regimes.
