Marriott in more trouble after ‘liking’ Twitter post by Tibetan independence group
Boss of hotel group blames latest gaffe on ‘individual’ employee, as Chinese internet users call for boycott
US hotel giant Marriott has come under a new round of fire after one of its Twitter accounts was found to have “liked” and shared a post congratulating it over a gaffe in which it listed Chinese-claimed regions like Tibet and Hong Kong as independent countries.
Authorities in Shanghai shut down the company’s Chinese website and launched an investigation after it emailed a Chinese-language questionnaire to its customers in which Tibet, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan were named as countries.
Despite issuing five public apologies since the initial outcry, a fresh controversy was sparked when Chinese internet users discovered that the company’s Twitter account for its loyalty programme had “liked” and shared a post by Friends of Tibet, which campaigns for independence for the region, soon after the first apology was issued.
The post congratulated the hotel group for listing Tibet as a country, along with Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Internet users accused Marriott of insincerity.