Earlier this month, Coda Story’s Antony Dapiran reported on the ban of an annual vigil in Hong Kong that honors the victims of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. After our piece was published, activists looked to online spaces to mark the anniversary. 

Recently, three prominent human rights activists accused the video conferencing platform Zoom of disrupting or shutting down their accounts because they were linked to events marking the anniversary of the massacre, or were to discuss China’s control over Hong Kong.

In a statement posted on its website, Zoom admitted that it had suspended the accounts of the activists at the behest of the Chinese government. The company also suggested and it will block any further meetings deemed illegal by Beijing.

Unlike several other western platforms, Zoom, which has surged in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, is not blocked in China.