China has imposed restrictions on the use of some Internet resources that are quite popular outside the country. To create an open economy, the Chinese authorities have invested millions of dollars to attract foreign investors. However, the communist laws of the state presuppose the presence of censorship, which affects both positively and negatively the economy of the state. Chinese lawmakers have banned the following things in recent years:
1. Google
Even though Google is the number one search engine in the world by Alexa Rankings, it is banned in China. The restrictions also apply to sites linked to Google such as Gmail, Picasa and Google Maps. Google was blocked by the Chinese government in 2014, but some apps like Google Plus and Google Docs were banned earlier in 2011. The Chinese leadership motivated the ban by the fact that Google intended to store Chinese data not on national servers, which is unacceptable for the country.
The government in Beijing has also expressed dissatisfaction with the free access of Google users. In this regard, Chinese citizens tried to access propaganda resources via the Internet. Blocking such content is a problem, even using the Great Firewall program. Other explanations seem to be rather controversial. One is that the Google blocking solution will allow it to migrate to its own search engine, Baidu, whose content will be subject to Chinese censorship.
2. Facebook
The largest public media portal Facebook ceased operations in China in July 2009. The site was widely used throughout China, but the Chinese government decided to close it down in 2009. In July 2009, Chinese activists in Xinjiang province used Facebook to organize a major riot that resulted in the deaths of about 200 people, most of whom were women and children.
These protests, known as the Urumqi riots, were the final straw for the Chinese government and prompted the decision to shut down Facebook. China, in general, supported the decision, despite the numerous visits of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to Beijing.
3. Snapchat
Popular collaborative mobile app also banned by the Chinese government. Snapchat was blocked because the app had the ability to store personal information about Chinese citizens outside the country. However, the Chinese do not seem to need this mobile app due to the meteoric rise in popularity of QQ, which has around 73 million users nationwide.
4. Twitter
The giant social media network, Twitter, was blocked in June 2009 as the country recalled the events of the TiananmeMen Square massacre 20 years ago. Beijing was nervous about its citizens' use of social media. The government suspected dissidents of spreading provocative information through them. According to the Chinese government, the website was banned under the national censorship law. However, the absence of Twitter in China is not a problem as it is being successfully replaced by another popular resource, Weibo. Despite the ban, Twitter is still used by about 10 million users in China today, using VPNs to bypass government protections.
5. Instagram
Instagram was another major collaborative mobile app banned by China. The Chinese government blocked the resource on September 19, 2014. The ban was in response to the use of a mobile app during the 2014 Hong Kong protests.
Protesters used Instagram to post images of events in the city, urging other citizens to join them. Despite the end of the protests, the ban on the use of mobile applications is still in effect.
6. Pinterest
Pinterest is yet another resource blocked by the Chinese government since the closure of another popular website in March 2017. The ban looked a little odd, at least to its users, since Pinterest's content posed no threat to national security.
The collaborative content guided Pinterest users to fashion issues. Therefore, critics do not believe in the ban due to a political decision, but still do not exclude that the blocking of the resource was pushed out of Beijing. Several similar websites have been set up to replace them, including BABA and the Alibaba subsidiary.
7. Websites
China, guided by its censorship laws, actively blocks thousands of websites every day. Resources containing false propaganda content are taken away by China's 2 million Internet police. The scale of internet censorship in China is incomparable to any other country in the world. The country uses the most advanced technologies to control any controversial resource.
8. Foreign films
Hollywood films are loved by the whole world, including millions of blockbuster fans living in China. However, the Chinese government has imposed a quantitative restriction on the distribution of foreign films in its cinemas, no more than 34 films per year.
Selected films are also subject to close censorship by a government commission, which removes any content they believe contains offensive or defamatory content.
E-books and videos have not been left out of the Chinese government's purge of website content. DisneyLife, a video sharing service, was banned by the country's government in April 2017, with little or no explanation. DisneyLife, which lasted only 5 months, was owned by the Chinese commercial giant Alibaba. The ban came a year after the closure of the iBook Store and the end of Apple's e-book service in April 2016.
10. Casino
Gambling has been banned in China since 1949, but Chinese entrepreneurs, bypassing the ban, set up underground casinos. The underground gaming culture was most prevalent in Macau, far exceeding its Las Vegas gaming industry. However, in recent years, Beijing has launched an active anti-corruption fight, seeking to close all of the country's underground casinos.
Criticism of the work of China's censorship police
China has been widely criticized and condemned both domestically and globally for its policy of state control of Internet censorship. Skeptics consider these restrictions dictatorial and detrimental to the development of the state's economy. On the other hand, the ban on large resources has spurred the development and prosperity of its own websites such as QQ and Alibaba.
We recommend watching:
China is a unique world with one of the strictest censorship in the world. Get acquainted with the rating of prohibited things in China, without which it is difficult to imagine modern life. A video about the reasons for the banning of the largest Internet resources in China, and how to put up with it.
