, Columnist
Clubhouse Had the Chance To Be a China Peacemaker. That’s Over
The social network briefly brought people together to share stories and debate politely. Then the firewall went up.
The Great Firewall slammed shut on Clubhouse.
Photographer: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek/Getty
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At around 1 a.m. on Saturday morning Clubhouse was buzzing. Not with the musings of Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg, but thousands of users on either side of the Taiwan Strait, sharing views and swapping stories. It couldn’t last.
This kind of dialogue — free, unencumbered and dispassionate — would lead China to put up the Great Firewall late Monday. Perhaps knowing this rare moment couldn’t last is precisely what drove users to seize the brief window of opportunity it offered for lively public discourse.