The Communist party has opened a new front in its battle to control information: the smartphone apps that hundreds of millions of Chinese use to send instant messages to each other.
On Tuesday, three Chinese government agencies launched a "special operation" to censor WeChat, the hugely popular Chinese version of WhatsApp, promising to save the public from "objectionable, illegal and harmful information".
The campaign is part of a broader move to dilute the use and influence of social media among Chinese, many of whom now spend their days glued to the screens of their mobile phones.
Already, the government has succeeded in transforming Weibo, China's version of Twitter, from a vibrant public square of ideas and information into a bland wasteland of selfies and advertisements. The Communist party has described its plan as the "purification of the online environment". Full story...
Related posts:
On Tuesday, three Chinese government agencies launched a "special operation" to censor WeChat, the hugely popular Chinese version of WhatsApp, promising to save the public from "objectionable, illegal and harmful information".
The campaign is part of a broader move to dilute the use and influence of social media among Chinese, many of whom now spend their days glued to the screens of their mobile phones.
Already, the government has succeeded in transforming Weibo, China's version of Twitter, from a vibrant public square of ideas and information into a bland wasteland of selfies and advertisements. The Communist party has described its plan as the "purification of the online environment". Full story...
Related posts:
- WeChat: meet the Chinese social network that's more valuable than...
- China's Sina Weibo is in danger of becoming boring - just how the...
- Tiger Temple, China's defiant blogger and citizen journalist...
- India drops to 140th rank in press freedom, lowest since 2002...
- Turkey has jailed more journalists than Iran, Eritrea or China...
No comments:
Post a Comment