Boxun

Boxun (simplified Chinese: 博讯; traditional Chinese: 博訊; pinyin: Bóxùn) is an aggregation website, which focuses on alleged political scandals in China.[1] Partially supported by U.S. government-funded National Endowment for Democracy, Boxun is partly backed by the China Free Press project, which is partially funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, a US-funded organization.[1][2]

Boxun
Type of site
Overseas Chinese community website
Available inChinese
URLwww.boxun.com
Current statusOnline

Founding and purpose

Boxun allows anyone to submit news to the website, which has resulted in a large number of articles remaining anonymous. Boxun was created by Meicun "Watson" Meng, who studied in the United States after working for two multinational companies in China. The Boxun servers are run from an office in North Carolina since 2000.[3]

Critics

While the organization claims it is independently run and audited, critics – including German leftist magazine konkret – have suggested that it is simply a tool of U.S. foreign policy.[4] Boxun.com is blocked in mainland China.[5]

Defamation case

In 2012, Boxun falsely reported that actress Zhang Ziyi was paid $100 million to sleep with top Chinese officials. Zhang sued Boxun in a US court for defamation. In December 2013, Boxun settled the case after agreeing to pay an undisclosed amount to Zhang and issue a front-page apology.[6]

References
  1. "Is China behind hacker attack on North Carolina website that covered political scandal?". Fox news. April 20, 2012.
  2. "Cyber-attack cripples US website covering Bo Xilai scandal". The Guardian. April 20, 2012.
  3. "Blog Trouble in Big China". CBC.
  4. Schmidt, Christian Y. "Neuigkeiten aus der Hope Valley Road. Der Westen hofft auf ein Übergreifen der arabischen Aufstandsbewegung auf China. Und hilft ein bißchen nach." konkret. 4/2011, p. 26-27.
  5. "Chinese Authorities Continue to Shut Down, Block Web Sites". Congressional Executive Commission on China.
  6. "China's Zhang Ziyi wins sex claims case against Boxun". BBC. December 18, 2013.
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