The big U.S. Internet companies had no effective presence in China in 2000, 2005 and 2010, behind the Great Firewall.
Unresolvable The public record could not settle it.
Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?
The second judge would not resolve this claim; the verdict shown is the first judge's.
What would count as true or false
This is a historical claim about 2000, 2005 and 2010. The big US internet companies are taken to be Google, Yahoo, Microsoft/MSN, eBay, Amazon and Facebook. Treat 'effective presence' as meaning a significant market share or operating position in China. True: in each of those years these companies had negligible share or no significant operations in their main Chinese markets. Mostly true: presence was minor overall, with only brief or small exceptions. Mixed: in one of the three years, one or more of these companies held a substantial position, for example a large search share, leadership in online auctions or a major local operation, while the claim holds for the other years. Mostly false: several of these companies held substantial Chinese market positions in two or more of the years. False: they had strong presences throughout.
Set before the research began.
Evidence (4)
-
E1 A week in tech, May 15-19 iTnews (Australia) · 19 May 2006
“At the end of last year, Baidu registered a 56.6-percent share of the Chinese search market at the end of 2005, according to IResearch. Google, the world's most widely used search engine, had a 32.8 per cent share. Yahoo was the third most-used search site with a 5 per cent share.”
-
E2 Google Cuts Ties With China Ad Agents | InformationWeek InformationWeek · 27 July 2010
“The search engine's market share in China dipped to 24% in the second quarter, a rapid decline from a 31% in the first quarter, according to research firm Analysys International, which measures market share by advertising revenue.”
-
E3 Alibaba lone bright spot in Yahoo's dark decade - CNBC CNBC · 15 September 2014
“When Yahoo made the risky call nine years ago to plunge $1 billion into a Chinese e-commerce company that few Americans had heard of, business was looking good. The fresh 40 percent stake in Alibaba was overshadowed by Yahoo's popular portfolio of email, finance and fantasy sports sites.”
-
E4 Google China Wikipedia Own record
“On 12 September 2000, Google announced the addition of Simplified and Traditional Chinese versions to Google.com and began to provide search services for Chinese users worldwide.”
Reasoning
The evidence shows Google with a substantial search share in China in 2005 [E1] and 2010 (measured by advertising revenue) [E2], and Yahoo with a 5% share plus a stake in Alibaba [E1][E3]. It shows no substantial positions for several of the named companies and gives no figures for 2000, so it fits neither the "mostly false" band nor the "mixed" band clearly.
Cite this claim
Peter Thiel, “The big U.S. Internet companies had no effective presence in China in 2000, 2005 and 2010, behind the Great Firewall.” (said 9 November 2022). Verdict: unresolvable. Reliability API, claim c_04f84f5b7f50, method 0.1.0+3e03e2df, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_04f84f5b7f50
This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.
Reply to this claim
More factual claims by Peter Thiel
-
Mostly true
“There was a gunpowder revolution in the 17th century and that changed the social structure and the political structure.”
A gunpowder revolution occurred in the 17th century and changed social and political structures.
-
Mostly true
“People in the 17th, 18th centuries were very optimistic about it.”
People in the 17th and 18th centuries were very optimistic about radical human life extension.
-
Mostly false
“That would be like the Chinese man who tried to launch a rocket into space in the 11th century.”
A Chinese man tried to launch a rocket into space in the 11th century.
-
Mostly true
“for this reason I have focused my efforts on new technologies that may create a new space for freedom.”
-
Mostly true
“In Goethe's "Faust," he has a pact with the devil and he sort of gets this knowledge by morally dubious means.”
Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts are made.