10 million accounts also closed
China has shut down or revoked the licenses of 13,000 websites since 2015 for violating the country’s Internet rules, state media reported on Sunday. The news comes as the country continues to strengthen its already tight regulation of the Internet, a move which critics say has picked up pace since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.
Platforms have also closed nearly 10 million Internet accounts for “violating service protocol”, the official news agency said on Sunday, likely referring to social media accounts.
Despite being home to the world’s largest number of Internet users, a 2015 report by U.S. think tank Freedom House found that the country had the most restrictive online use policies of 65 nations it studied, ranking below Iran and Syria. Google, Facebook, Twitter and The New York Times are all blocked in China, among countless other foreign websites.
