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> facebook did not attempt to run its social media business in China

This is not true: https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/24/17607992/facebook-allowed...

Facebook attempts to open an office in China, but gets shutdown one day later. Ofc, this is China so nobody knows the reason why.

Second, Chinese internet regulation is as opaque as its other operations, compliance with law is on the surface, they are tens of special government approved certificates to obtain if you want to actually operate there, like this one: https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%BD%91%E7%BB%9C%E8%A7%86%E5%..., which is approved case by case and notoriously hard to get, basically make it impossible for foreign company to operate in China.

So no, China's internet doesn't have only have a set of rules that once you comply you get a pass. It is mired in layers of regulations and bureaucracy that without guanxi, you can't crack it no matter how willing you are.



> Ofc, this is China so nobody knows the reason why.

I'd assume facebook know? Also your link does not seem related quote(Facebook opens a subsidiary in China, a breakthrough for the banned social media platform)


There is the follow-up you requested:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/25/17612162/facebook-technol...

> The sudden rejection stems from a disagreement between Chinese authorities, the source told the Times. Local officials in Zhejiang, an eastern province that houses Alibaba’s headquarters, gave Facebook the initial permission, but the Cyberspace Administration of China, Beijing’s internet regulator, had not.




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