President Obama's Google+ Account Overwhelmed By Chinese Users

President Barack Obama might already be campaigning to win Americans’ votes later this year, but apparently, his efforts have recently attracted the attentions of many who can’t participate in the upcoming election: the Chinese. Those who regularly follow the President’s Google+ account may have noticed a remarkable increase in the number of Chinese language comments on his posts the last two days. Apparently, their presence wasn’t an anomaly.

According to the BBC , China’s Great Firewall that previously blocked Google+ was altered on February 20th to allow many residents access. Over the next few days, loads made their way to President Obama’s profile, and an informal sit-in was staged to occupy the page in a tongue-and-cheek reference to the recent American protests.

As of press time, the White House hasn’t commented on all the Chinese feedback they’ve been getting concerning human rights and other issues, but many Americans have reportedly taken to social media to complain about all the foreign language comments they can’t read. Some feel their prevalence has undermined discussion, which is perhaps a fair criticism but probably not a reason to exclude the President from having foreign fans.

More than anything else, this situation is a reminder of how many people there are in China. With almost one billion, four hundred million residents, if even a small percentage of the population gets excited about something, in this case responding to Barack Obama, it can overwhelm comment sections in a hurry.