Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has been banned in China for quite some time now, but an account labelled Facebook Inc on China’s Weibo social-media network created a confusion, when some users started believing that the social networking site is available in the country.
Facebook confirmed it as fake
The account looked like real with Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) friendly content such as the story of the long lost twin sisters, who reunited with each other online along with a photo of one of the foxes that is commonly seen in Menlo Park, campus.
There was, also, a Mark Zuckerberg picture over the account showing a sign in Chinese wishing readers a happy Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. By Tuesday, this account attracted around 80,000 followers.
Within a week of popping up, the account also gathered reasonable doubts and some of the users doubted that the photo of Zuckerberg displayed on the account looks like the one taken in 2010. By Tuesday the account vanished, says a report from the Wall Street Journal.
To offer options to the users in China, in the absence of the highly popular Facebook and Twitter, domestic companies have developed their own series of social-media products. Facebook and Twitter has been blocked by the government, who is concerned over the power of the networks that it cannot control. However, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) still is a desirable service in China and Zuckerberg’s visit in the country shows his interest in the Chinese market.
On the same day, a confirmation came from a Facebook spokeswoman that the company did not create any such account.
Weibo executive backtracks
Previously, a confirmation was received from Weibo vice president Cao Zenghui, in a post, where he noted that Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has opened an account, but later Zenghui withdrew his statement saying that it needs to be more cautious in certifying account applications from now onwards. Cao’s reaction came after one of the Facebook executives denied any such account in China.
Zhang Hao, a data analyst for Sina, also received confirmation from Cao. Top news archive of Weibo, also, showed the news on Sunday afternoon sharing the post by Cao. A media website Ping West was quick to issue a posting of Facebook employee turning down that Weibo account was official.
