Dharamsala, Jan. 13: China shut down almost hundred wesbites in a crackdown on Internet, which Beijing sees as the most dangerous medium for the communist party’s stronghold on power.
The government shut down 91 websites for pornographic and other “vulgar” content, as well as a political blog portal, state media said.
Among the sites that are banned is the country’s most vibrant and influential intellectual discussion platform called bullog.cn, a Chinese language blog portal with many famous bloggers, including some signatories of the pro-democracy “08 Charter“.
This follows a warning by the country’s propaganda chief Li Changchun that the party would tighten Internet controls over “vulgar” content.
According to Sydney Morning Herald, founder Luo Yonghao of Bullog received an official confirmation of the site’s closure on Friday in an email from the Beijing Communications Administration, which accused the website of containing “harmful comments on current affairs”.
With more than a million visitors daily, Bullog became the most popular platform for Chinese intellectuals and commentators to debate policy and political developments.
China’s increased restriction on Internet, say Tibetan right groups, represent the panic that is haunting the party leaders especially in the wake of economic slowdown and a series of anniversaries that could provide a spark for dissent this year.
“China lacks freedom of speech, but the blog is like a private media for intellectuals,” Chinese media researcher Michael Anti was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald. “If you shut down all the liberal platforms for bloggers that means the liberal voices cannot be heard in the public sphere, and that will be a real problem for civil society.”
However, bullogs’ founder Luo seems adamant to continue his initiative to give platform to people willing to express themselves on the web.
“We will definitely open again. If it can’t be in China, then we will open our website overseas,” he told Sydney Morning Herald.
