SF Olympic star draws heat for social media use in China
Beijing Olympics gold medalist Eileen Gu is under fire from some fans after posting a possibly illegal way to avoid internet censorship in China.
Gu, 18, was born in San Francisco but has chosen to compete for her mother’s native China as a freestyle skier. Gu grew up in the tony Sea Cliff neighborhood and took ski lessons in Tahoe, initially competing as an American athlete before petitioning for a change of nation in 2019. It is not clear if she has renounced her U.S. citizenship — China does not recognize dual citizens — and Gu has declined to comment on the subject.
Since arriving in China, Gu has posted on social media, which drew the attention of many fans in China. Sites and apps such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Google search and Wikipedia are blocked as part of China’s Great Firewall, an attempt by the government to censor and control the flow of information.
“Why can you use Instagram and millions of Chinese people from mainland cannot,” an Instagram user commented on one of her posts. “… That’s not fair, can you speak up for those millions of Chinese who don’t have internet freedom.”
Gu responded, “Anyone can download a vpn its literally free on the App Store” with a thumbs-up emoji. A virtual private network can be utilized to mask a user’s location, allowing people to get around firewalls.
This advice was not well received by her legion of fans, many of whom pointed out that downloading an unauthorized VPN is illegal in China. Others said Gu may be receiving preferential treatment that ordinary citizens don’t benefit from. In 2017, a University of Washington student was arrested and detained for months after using a VPN to log into a school system to submit homework.
Gu, who reportedly will attend Stanford University in the fall, has been careful to avoid any discussion of geopolitical issues. After winning the gold medal in big air Tuesday, Gu told the media about how she handles backlash.
“No matter what I say, if people don’t have a good heart, they won’t believe me because they can’t empathize with people who do have a good heart,” Gu said. “So in that sense, I feel as though it’s a lot easier to block out the hate now. And also, they’re never going to know what it feels like to win an Olympic gold medal.”
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