"Under pressure in China, Zara deleted a statement about Xinjiang", 26 March 2021

Until yesterday, Zara’s parent company, Inditex, had a statement on its website stating the company’s zero-tolerance policy for forced labor and that it did not have relationships with any factories in Xinjiang.

As of this writing, Inditex’s statement has been removed. The company hasn’t said why and did not reply to a request for comment by the time this story published. It is still visible on the Wayback Machine, an online archive of web pages. The last snapshot of the page, on Dec. 23, shows the statement calling reports of forced labor in Xinjiang “highly concerning.”

The moves show the companies are trying to manage the fallout they’re facing in China, as social media users, celebrities, officials, and state media condemn international companies that have made past statements distancing themselves from any links to Xinjiang. First aimed at H&M, the anger has spread to other companies as well. Inditex is among those that have been called out on Weibo, a large Chinese social media platform. [...]