China Clamps Down on Internet as It Seeks to Stamp Out Covid Protests

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China’s internet watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration, instructed tech companies to expand censorship of protests and moved to curb access to virtual private networks, as a government clampdown succeeds in keeping most protesters off the streets after nationwide demonstrations erupted against the country’s strict Covid policies. The Cyberspace Administration of China issued guidance to companies on Nov 29, including Tencent Holdings and ByteDance, the Chinese owner of short video apps TikTok and Douyin, asking them to add more staff to internet censorship teams. The companies were also asked to pay more attention to content related to the protests, particularly any information being shared about demonstrations at Chinese universities and a fire in the western Xinjiang region that triggered the nationwide backlash over Covid policies. The directives were issued following an internal meeting at the internet regulator, where officials were also told to ask Chinese search engines, e-commerce companies and internet content platforms to conduct a fresh sweep to remove sales postings and information about how to use virtual private networks, also known as VPNs. The regulator also asked officials to get companies to prevent searches related to VPNs, which were used by protesters and their supporters to circulate videos of the recent demonstrations.


China Clamps Down on Internet as It Seeks to Stamp Out Covid Protests