An official said that if Beijing is successful in its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics then foreigners who attend "will get uncensored Internet access," but this is not an issue for Chinese who "don't like" sites like Facebook and Twitter, according to Ben Blanchard of REUTERS. China "keeps a tight rein on its Internet." The government has warned that "social media, particularly foreign services, could be a destabilizing force for Chinese society or even affect the country's security." Popular foreign social media sites like Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook as well as Google Inc.'s main search engine and Gmail service "are all inaccessible in China" without specialized software to vault what is known as the "Great Firewall." Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games Bid Committee spokesperson Wang Hui said that China "was an open country committed to having an open Internet." Wang: "Everyone always brings up Facebook and Twitter, but people around me don't like to use it." Wang said that foreign visitors, including the press, spectators or athletes, "would get open Internet access in 2022," without explaining how exactly this would work. Wang: "Without a doubt, 2022 will be even more open than 2008" (REUTERS, 3/25).
