China Steps Up Web Censorship in Wake of Egypt Protests
Jeremy Page
The Wall Street Journal
1/31/2011
BEIJING—Chinese authorities have blocked the word “Egypt” from searches on Twitter-like microblogging sites in an indication of concern among Communist Party leaders that the unrest there could encourage similar calls for political reform in China.
Internet censors also appeared Sunday to have deleted almost all of the comments posted beneath the few limited reports on the unrest—mostly from the state-run Xinhua news agency—that have been published on Chinese news sites in the past few days.
The strict online controls illustrate the party’s concern that the Internet is providing China’s citizens with a new means of information and organization that could …
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