YouTube blocked in China

christian
 October 18, 2007, 01:30 PM posted in General Discussion

Danwei and ADN (in Spanish), among others, are reporting that YouTube is not available in China right now.

 There's some speculation regarding the timing and reasons for this blockage. It coincides with the Communist Party Congress in Beijing, of course, but also with the launch today of a Chinese version of youTube (reachable at hk.youtube.com).

 Anybody else have any news?

Do we know if this will be a temporary ban or a permanent feature? 

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christian
 October 18, 2007, 01:31 PM

This also has the unfortunate effect of making me miss my daily dose of Shanghai :(

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tangmoo
 October 18, 2007, 02:27 PM

There are about 100 versions of youtube in china.. i'm not sure how it intends to compete.

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christian
 October 18, 2007, 02:49 PM

Possibly through network externalities, i.e., the bigger the user base, the more contributed content, the more valuable it becomes to users. It's possible that YouTube database is bigger, because it was available in English before its competitors were and therefore has a bigger overall userbase, but I really don't know. If anyone has any insights or links, they would be thoroughly appreciated ;)

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tangmoo
 October 18, 2007, 03:21 PM

Localised content & marketing would be better placed as most webbers like YT get their money from advertising revenue. So you might be right about economies of scale.. lets wait and see.