La resistibile ascesa dei social media in Cina

Un articolo dell'Economist racconta delle crescenti manifestazioni in Cina a sfondo economico. Nella loro promozione ha un ruolo Weibo, il twitter cinese:
Weibo have transformed public discourse in China. News that three or four years ago would have been relatively easy for local officials to suppress, downplay or ignore is now instantly transmitted across the nation. Local protests or scandals to which few would once have paid attention are now avidly discussed by weibo users. The government tries hard, but largely ineffectively, to control this debate by blocking key words and cancelling the accounts of muckraking users. Circumventions are easily found. Since December the government has been rolling out a new rule that people must use their real names to open accounts. So far, users seem undeterred.
Certo, come sostiene Morozov, i social media vengono usati anche dal potere, per controllare o disinformare. Resta il fatto che sono un potente strumento di crescita della consapevolezza dei popoli.