A galaxy of U.S. tech CEOs and senior executives are expected to attend the annual World Internet Conference that kicks off today in Wuzhen, China.
The conference is organised by Chinese Internet watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China, well known for its censorship of content and blocking access to sites that they deem unfit.
Both Google and Facebook have their applications blocked by none other than the Cyberspace Administration of China.
Interestingly, the nation has recently been named by Freedom House, a Washington, U.S.-based nonprofit, as the “world’s worst abuser of internet freedom”, for the third consecutive year.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook Vice President Vaughan Smith and LinkedIn Corp.’s Co-Founder and Vice President Allan Blue will be attending the conference, along with Apple CEO Tim Cook.
The fact that some of the biggest tech companies in the world are sending senior executives to the state-organized event shows how important the market is for them, and how it is critical that they stay on top of things in the ever-tightening regulatory environment that is China.
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