Bengaluru — Facebook has quietly developed a censorship tool that could persuade China to allow the world’s biggest social media network to re-enter the world’s second-largest economy after a seven-year ban, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. Facebook developed the software, which suppresses posts from appearing in people’s news feeds in specific regions, with the support of CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the newspaper said, citing unnamed current and former employees. In March, Zuckerberg met China’s propaganda tsar Liu Yunshan, who said that he hoped Facebook could strengthen exchanges and improve mutual understanding with China’s internet companies, according to state news agency Xinhua. "We have long said that we are interested in China, and are spending time understanding and learning more about the country," Facebook spokesperson Arielle Aryah said in an e-mailed statement. "However, we have not made any decision on our approach to China. Our focus right now is on helping Chinese b...

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