Amid Soaring Online Population, Chinese Gov’t. Calls for Tighter Content Regulation
At a session of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo, President Hu Jintao called for better regulations for Internet content to ensure the development of a “actively and creatively nurture a healthy online culture,” according to the government’s news agency.
Faced with a rapidly increasing Chinese online population, President Hu called on the government to use new technology and techniques to influence public opinion and improve Internet security. According to the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, in two years, China could house the largest number of Internet users in the world, surpassing even the United States.
China’s Internet population increased by 23.4% in 2006, according to the state-run China Internet Network Information Center. Meanwhile, the Agence-France Presse reports that the US audience has grown only around 2%. “The growth now is gaining much momentum. We’re expecting even faster growth in 2007 and 2008,” said Information Center director Wang Enhai in an interview with the government-owned China Daily newspaper.
China has a long history of tightly regulating the Internet, blocking access to sites considered immoral including those related to pornography and criminal activity, as well as those considered subversive, with content related to Taiwanese independence and the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989. China has been developing its Golden Shield project, known by critics as the “Great Firewall of China,” since 1998, which can block access to Internet sites and services based on server IP addresses.
According to the Information Center’s website, 10.5% of China’s total population of 1.3 billion is currently online.
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