In China, Obama says sites like Twitter should be open

2009/11/16

US President Barack Obama Monday admitted in China that he had never used Twitter but said sites like the micro-blogging network should be available everywhere, even though his hosts restrict its use.

“I have never used Twitter,” Obama said, at a town hall meeting in Shanghai designed to shake off the crushing formality of his state visit to China in a live Internet webcast.

“I notice many young people, they are very busy with all these electronics — my thumbs are too clumsy to type things on the phone,” said Obama, who has a specially secure BlackBerry personal smartphone.

“I have always been a strong supporter of open Internet use. I am a big supporter of non-censorship,” the US president said, in a country that tightly restricts Internet content — the so-called “Great Firewall of China”.

“I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger a society becomes.” The US leader was responding to an emailed question at a town hall meeting streamed live on the Internet on whether Twitter, which is blocked by authorities in China, should be freely available.

Obama does in fact have his own “Twitter feed” which is used by Democratic Party aides to flag his events and speeches. The latest entry filed on Saturday read: “In Singapore, continuing the trip to Asia.” -- AFP