From 4 to 20 February, the 2022 Olympics will be held in Beijing, which has already been overgrown with scandals and conflicts. In order not to add fuel to the fire, the Chinese government decided to please the participants of the Games – they will be allowed to use social networks blocked in the country.
Olympics
Instead of all the usual messengers and social networks, national counterparts operate in China. Twitter and Facebook can only be accessed through a VPN (virtual private network), and the Chinese have actively exploited this loophole. Until they were fined, a Guangdong resident paid a fifth of his salary in 2019 for using a VPN service. Olympics
In order not to face problems at the upcoming Olympics-2022 ( and the organizing committee already has enough problems ), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) reported that in Beijing, the competitors will be allowed to use prohibited social networks. Access to messengers will also be possible using SIM cards provided by the organizing committee in accordance with the tariff plan.
“In accordance with the contractual obligations of the host city, the organizing committee of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing will provide an open Internet service within a closed system to all accredited participants at key Olympic venues, including Olympic villages, competition and out-of-competition venues, and The hotel, where Wi-Fi will be available to all accredited participants who will be able to connect to the internet using their devices “ , – said in a statement the IOC, which has provided TASS.
It is not the first time Beijing has hosted the Olympic Games; in 2008, at the Summer Games, a scandal erupted due to the blockage (not only of social networks). Human Rights Watch has accused the Chinese government of breaking a promise to ensure a free press during the Olympics. Basically, sites that published criticism of the organizers of the Games were blocked. And US Senator Sam Brownback said that equipment was installed in hotels for foreign guests in Beijing that monitored how guests use the Internet.
In Beijing, they value their reputation very much – in the same 2008, special patrols were created to ensure that city residents did not spit on the streets. This time, they have limited access to social networks for the time being, but there will still be.
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