Many activities in China require you to present your Chinese ID number and/or your ID card. It isn't meant to exclude foreigners specifically, it is usually just an oversight where much of Chinese officialdom can't fathom that there are even foreigners resident in China.

There’s no reason it can’t do both. Keeping foreigners out is four-fifths of the reason why China has banned foreign social networks in the first place.

Sure, but in this case, it is just like not being able to use the e-kiosks at the train station to print your ticket. Chinese simply don't care about foreigners, they aren't threatened by them.

And yet, looking at the way Twitter has been used as a tool to accelerate the divide of American political discourse, it’s hard to see this in quite as negative a light as I used to.

> It's hard to believe nonsense like this still exists in the world.

What's even worse is that nonsense like this is becoming more popular and people are now actively supporting, not just in china but around the world.

Look at how censored social media is in the US. Look at HN with its censorship, banning and shadowbanning.

The promise of an open and free internet is dying very quickly. If censorship is supported in a "hacker" forum, what hope is it in the rest of the internet and world.