Ai Weiwei, AFP
There are concerns today that Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been banned from Twitter by authorities, despite his recent release from prison. After protests on Facebook, Change.org, and a surprise appearance in a video at TED, the artist and activist is out on one year bail, due to his “good attitude” in admitting to tax evasion, the AFP reported. The release, however, is purported to come with several conditions:
- Ai has to seek permission before leaving Beijing
- Ai cannot accept interviews requested by foreign media
- Ai is banned from Twitter, as he told the Daily Telegraph
Apparently, the conditions are put in place to keep Ai Weiwei in silence. But it remains to be seen if Ai, who is known to defy the strict rules and regulations of the Chinese government, will remain tamed.
There are several unofficial versions of Ai’s Twitter account, including @Aiweiwei (yes, his full name), @AiwwEnglish (which is a Twitter community translation of Ai Weiwei), and @AWWNeverSorry. Every account is proving popular, with several thousand followers tracking news relating to Ai Weiwei.
The official Ai Weiwei Twitter account, @AIWW, which the artist personally writes, has over 89,000 followers. However, his last tweet was dated back on April 3, which was just before he was detained. If Ai Weiwei were to follow these strict conditions, his official Twitter account will remain inactive for a year. Nonetheless, Ai still receives @mentions on the microblog service from fans feeling sorry about his enforced Twitter ban and media silence.
Here’s a news report by Al-Jazeera, contemplating the artist’s predicament and pre-conditions of release, though it was made two days ago, before word of a Twitter embargo got out:
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