One of the Chinese Internet’s most popular microbloggers, former Google China chief Kai-fu Lee, became the perpetrator of one of the country’s most pointed April Fool’s jokes on Monday morning. In a post on Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo, Mr. Lee announced to his 35 million followers that Facebook and Twitter – both long blocked by the Internet censorship system commonly known as China’s Great Firewall – had suddenly become available.

“You can now get on Facebook and Twitter in China! No need to jump over the wall! The image below will tell you how!” he wrote.

Attached to the post was a thumbnail image showing the Facebook and Twitter logos with a small line of text underneath. Users who clicked the image to expand it quickly discovered they’d been duped: “I’m in Tapei I’m in Taipei I’m in Taipei,” the text read. “Happy April Fool’s Day!”