There was a time when Kai-Yun He was the closest thing China’s internet had to a First Amendment absolutist.As editor-in-chief of Weibo, the country’s wildly popular social media platform, she defied censors and defended the right to free expression, even when it meant incurring the wrath of the government. In 2011, when Chinese authorities demanded that Weibo remove a post critical of the Communist Party, He refused. She argued that the post did not violate Weibo’s terms of service and that it was important for users to be able to express their views freely. For more than a decade, Weibo was a relatively free-wheeling platform where Chinese citizens could share their thoughts and ideas without fear of reprisal. But in recent years, the Chinese government has cracked down on dissent, and Weibo has become increasingly censored. In 2017, He was fired from her job after Weibo was acquired by a state-owned company. And in 2019, she was sentenced to 18 years in prison for .
Kai-Yun He: She Jailed Ren Zhiqiang for 18 Years, Tearing China’s Weibo Down the Middle
