(WSJ) Roy Jones, 49, never thought a $14-an-hour job running social-media accounts for Marriott International Inc. would require him to know global politics.
That was before he liked a post on Twitter Inc.from a Tibetan separatist group applauding Marriott for listing Tibet as a country, rather than part of China, in an online survey.
Marriott says listing Tibet as a country was a mistake, and Mr. Jones has said the same of liking the post. Mr. Jones paid for his error with his livelihood: Marriott fired him.
"I was completely unaware of what was going on," Mr. Jones said by phone from Omaha, Neb., where he worked at Marriott's customer-engagement center. "We were never trained in any of the social graces when it came to dealing with China."
Marriott declined to comment on Mr. Jones's case. The hospitality company issued a statement saying it made its own decisions on the China-Tibet incident in line with internal policies.
Craig Smith, head of Asia-Pacific for Marriott, said in a separate statement, "We made a few mistakes in China earlier this year that suggested some associates did not understand or take seriously enough the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China. Those incidents were mistakes and in no way representative of our views as a company."
"Not only can't you speak freely inside of China, but you can't even speak freely outside of China—and that's really bad," said Xiao Qiang, a Chinese internet expert at the University of California at Berkeley.
Marriott was within its legal rights to fire Mr. Jones, legal experts say. But some say the severity of the penalty—termination, rather than a reprimand or suspension—highlights the increasingly unforgiving environment for those who offend Chinese sensibilities.
"A more typical scenario is that Marriott accepts the blame and doesn't just ax the employee," said Eric Goldman, co-director of the High-Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University in California. "If this were his first strike, the employee effectively is a sacrifice to try to get Marriott back in the good graces of China."
This year alone, at least a dozen Western brands and companies, including Marriott, Delta Air Lines Inc., the Zara apparel chain and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz unit, have drawn Beijing's fire for similar mistakes.
In at least two of the cases, including Mr. Jones's, the posts couldn't be seen in China without special software to bypass its internet restrictions. Mr. Jones liked the post on Twitter, which is blocked in China.
Mercedes posted a quotation from the Dalai Lama, who supports Tibetan independence, on Instagram, which also is blocked in China.
James Zimmerman, managing partner at law firm Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP in Beijing and former chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said the recent incidents reflect Chinese regulators' stepped-up monitoring of internet content.
Under a cybersecurity law that went into effect last year, any person or organization is banned from posting content that "endangers national security, national honor and interests" or "incites subversion of national sovereignty" in China.
Mr. Zimmerman said his firm has seen an uptick on the number of companies being called out for slight infractions involving online content. "What companies are up against is what we understand to be a legion of young, talented online technicians that scour the internet for compliance issues."
Online ads and promotional content in China have come under heightened scrutiny following tougher rules imposed in 2015, including a ban on content "damaging the dignity or interest of the state." A National Internet Advertising Monitoring Center has found at least 230,000 illegal advertisements since it opened last fall, Chinese regulators say.
China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce didn't respond to a request for comment.
Chinese authorities cited advertising violations in several of the recent cases including Marriott's.
Marriott emailed a survey to rewards-program members asking them to specify their home country.
The options included Tibet, Macau and Hong Kong—all part of China—and Taiwan, which is claimed by China but has its own government. The survey was prepared by a longtime Canadian vendor.
Chinese social media began lighting up with outrage over Marriott's survey on Jan. 9. The next day, Mr. Jones was on the night shift handling the Marriott Rewards Twitter account, a job that required him to engage with the public on Twitter.
Mr. Jones said his team noticed calls on Twitter to boycott Marriott but hadn't been briefed on what was happening.
That night, a tweet from a Tibetan separatist group praising Marriott for listing Tibet as a country in its survey was liked by Marriott's official Rewards account.
Mr. Jones said he typically reviewed up to 300 tweets a shift and doesn't recall liking that one, although he concedes he probably did.
On Jan. 11, the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration said it questioned Marriott representatives over the matter and ordered the company to publicly apologize and "seriously deal with the people responsible."
Marriott was also forced to suspend online booking services for one week in Greater China, its largest market outside North America with nearly 300 hotels. Following the episode, Marriott said it terminated its contract with the Canadian vendor.
Mr. Jones said he was fired after a Marriott human-resources director interviewed him about the incident.
"This job was all I had," Mr. Jones said. "I'm at the age now where I don't have many opportunities."
Source: Wall Street Journal by Wayne Ma
from China Travel & Tourism News http://ift.tt/1iB6EFm |  | |  |  | |
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