In late December 2005, Microsoft removed the popular MSN Spaces blog of Chinese journalist Zhao Jing (who wrote under the name Michael Anti) after he criticized the government-ordered firing of editors at a Beijing newspaper. Because the blog was hosted on U.S.-based servers, the deletion erased it worldwide, not just inside China. The Committee to Protect Journalists and other groups condemned the move, and it became a flashpoint in the debate over American tech companies complying with Chinese censorship. Microsoft, then chaired by Bill Gates, defended acting in accordance with local law but said it would afterward remove content only on formal legal demand and keep it visible outside the country involved.