Chinese Paper Attacks Twitter and Facebook for Shutting Accounts

  • State media accuses social media firms of double standards
  • Crackdown on accounts draws ire on Chinese social media

A man looks at a phone during a protest at the Hong Kong International Airport on Aug. 12.

Photographer: Kyle Lam/Bloomberg
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Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc.’s move to close accounts that the companies said were backed by China and attempting to manipulate news about the protests in Hong Kong drew swift backlash from Chinese state media and internet users.

The Communist Party’s Global Times and People’s Daily newspapers, as well as the state-run China Daily called the crackdown a “double-standard” in editorials published late Tuesday.