Rise of social media will lead to China`s liberalization: Eric Schmidt

Wellington: Google`s Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt has reportedly said that the rise of social media in China will lead to its liberalisation, and as more people go online, China`s government will be powerless to halt the changes. Schmidt`s comments in light of the tough rules on social media passed by China recently, under which, people face harsh penalties if libellous `online rumours’ they create are reposted more than 500 times. Recalling his meeting with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang this month, Schmidt said that the most interesting thing is that the government officials are obsessed with the Internet, which is why they passed the laws. He opined that the Chinese government cannot imprison enough people when they all agree to do something, adding that they won`t be able to stop it as it will cause liberalization. The report said that Google moved its Chinese search engine service out of China to Hong Kong in 2010, citing rampant censorship. However, Schmidt pointed out the growing popularity of services like home-grown services such as Twitter-like Weibo and instant messaging site WeChat, will make censorship increasingly difficult, the report added.