UPDATE September 27, 2020, 2pm BST: Woeser has reported via her social media channels that her access to Facebook has been restored. Translation of her tweet below:
剛才Facebook的一位管理人員通過作家薯伯伯告訴我：「唯色的帳戶和page都恢復了 ，我們也發了郵件給她，也可以幫我轉給她，確保她明白以後如果再有違反，不一定可以恢復。」所以，在被禁用4天後，我的臉書帳戶和個人專頁恢復了。messenger也恢復了。對我的Instagram 的限制也取消了。感謝大家的關注🙏 pic.twitter.com/jTZtzouCIh
— འོད་ཟེར།唯色Woeser😷 (@degewa) September 27, 2020
Translation: Just now, a manager at Facebook told me via the writer Pazu: “Woeser’s Facebook account and Page have been restored, we also sent her an email but you can tell her that if she violates the regulations again, they will not necessarily be restored again.” So, it has taken four days to get my Facebook accounts running again. My Messenger has also been recovered and my restrictions on Instagram have been lifted. Thank you all for your attention and concern.
UPDATE September 26, 2020, 5pm BST: In addition to Facebook disabling her account, Woeser’s activity on her Instagram has also been limited.
Facebook Disables Woeser’s Accounts
High Peaks Pure Earth has translated three tweets by Woeser about Facebook disabling her accounts.
This is not the first time Woeser’s Facebook accounts have been disabled. In July this year, her Facebook accounts were temporarily disabled for several days.
In December 2014, Facebook deleted her post on the self-immolation protest of monk Kalsang Yeshi, prompting media attention on concerns around censorship.
The first tweet Woeser wrote about this Facebook incident was written on September 24, 2020:
我的脸书及个人专页两个账号在昨晚突然被停用。声称是“第三方举报”。我自2008年注册脸书，十二年来所发图片文章视频不计其数，基本都是有关西藏的内容。曾因发藏人自焚讯息被脸书公司删帖，当时引发媒体关注。今年在尊者生日期间，被脸书公司暂停数日。而现在，又是什么真实理由被完全停用？#Facebook pic.twitter.com/EhN2vStFaY
— འོད་ཟེར།唯色Woeser😷 (@degewa) September 24, 2020
Translation: Last night, both my personal and official Facebook accounts were suddenly disabled. It was claimed that it had been “reported by a third party.” Since first registering an account in 2008, I have been posting countless photos, essays and videos about Tibet. Once before, Facebook deleted a post about self-immolations in Tibet, a matter that even gained media attention. Also, during this year’s birthday of His Holiness, Facebook temporarily disabled my accounts for several days. So what is it now? What is the actual reason for disabling my account this time? #Facebook
This next tweet was sent as a follow up:
希望脸书公司 @Facebook 对完全停用我的脸书及个人专页两个账号，给出明确的、真实的理由。而不是借关闭虚假账号来对言论进行封杀。我使用FB账号十二年，可以说我是中国境内关于真实西藏的极其稀少甚至可能是唯一的声音。我发声也是鼓足勇气，冒着风险，却被声称捍卫自由言论的脸书公司封杀，太讽刺。 https://t.co/xWX1jEbe22
— འོད་ཟེར།唯色Woeser😷 (@degewa) September 24, 2020
Translation: I sincerely hope that @Facebook will provide an explicit and genuine reason for completely disabling both my personal and my official Facebook accounts and that they will not use “fake account” as a pretext to block free speech. I have been using Facebook for ten years. I am one of the extremely rare, perhaps even the only, voice from inside China that provides real information about Tibet. I have to muster my courage and am putting myself at risk only to be blocked by a company that claims to defend freedom of speech?! What irony!
The third tweet was the following:
忘记说了，我的脸书被停用了，我的messenger也上不去了。这样的话，我跟我在印度的堂姑（80多岁了）没法联系了……这让我难过。 https://t.co/h588P6Bh0E
— འོད་ཟེར།唯色Woeser😷 (@degewa) September 24, 2020
Translation: I forgot to say that apart from my Facebook, I also cannot access Messenger. This means that I cannot get in touch with my paternal aunt in India (who is over 80 years old)… this makes me very sad.
High Peaks Pure Earth will continue to monitor this case and post updates.
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