Weibo’s new policy to display user locations prompts some humour among netizens as Gates, Musk and Cook appear to be based in China
- Weibo account of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is shown to be in the central province of Henan
- Weibo accounts of Western tech gurus are likely run by entities or teams based in China on their behalf, acting as one-way PR channels
The new policy of Chinese social media platforms to display the location of users based on their internet protocol (IP) address has prompted invasion of privacy complaints from some but also humour, as it transpires that the Weibo accounts of some well-known Western entrepreneurs are based in China.
For example, the official Weibo account of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who joined the Chinese social media platform in 2010, is shown to be in the central province of Henan, based on his account’s IP address. Gates, who has 4 million followers on Weibo, has been quite active on the platform and his latest post on April 28 highlights a recent TED speech.
Tesla founder Elon Musk’s Weibo account is operated out of Beijing. According to his Weibo account information, Musk has nearly 2 million followers, far below the 90 million followers he has on Twitter. Musk’s latest Weibo post was published on April 23, with the entrepreneur saying that “Tesla China is doing incredible work”, seemingly endorsing the Shanghai government’s efforts to resume production at key industrial enterprises amid the city’s Covid-19 lockdown.
Meanwhile, Apple chief executive Tim Cook’s account is shown as based in Shanghai with 1.5 million followers. His latest Weibo post was published on April 15 and pertains to Apple’s support of clean energy among its suppliers.
One possible explanation for this state of affairs is that the Weibo accounts of Western tech gurus, which are mainly intended for a Chinese audience, are run by entities or teams based in China on their behalf. As such, the Weibo accounts mainly serve as one-way public relations channels for them with little real interaction with the audience.
Still, the reveal of the IP addresses of Western tech billionaires has triggered debate in China with some netizens seizing the chance to make fun of the situation by calling them “fellow townsmen”.
Weibo did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday, a public holiday in China.
In a notice displayed along with every account’s location, Weibo says that user locations are based on information from network operators.