ALBAWABA - In a surprising twist, the recent global outage of Twitter, a platform banned in China for years, has sparked significant discussions as users managed to access the platform, known as X. We explore the unexpected consequences and ensuing conversations on China's native Weibo platform, triggering a nationwide uproar.
Global Attention on Twitter's Disruption in China
On December 20, Twitter experienced a worldwide accessibility issue, leaving users unable to access the site for approximately two hours, accompanied by complaints of the homepage failing to load. Interestingly, users in China appeared to be affected by this outage.
The disruption quickly became a trending topic on Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, with the hashtag #TwitterCrash claiming the top spot. The discussion garnered over 190 million views and 100,000 shares.
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Notably, Twitter has been off-limits in China since 2009 due to government-imposed internet censorship. The fact that the Twitter outage went viral in China is noteworthy, given that Chinese users have been utilizing VPN applications for years to bypass censorship.
Reactions on Weibo underscore that platforms like Twitter continue to be popular in China. Some users questioned the widespread interest in a site officially inaccessible, sparking debates about the popularity of Chinese platforms such as WeChat and Weibo, recognized for their stringent controls and algorithms. Users appear to be exploring alternatives against China's Great Firewall.
