China’s online population hits 450 million; Shuts down 60,000 porn sites

BEIJING: China’s number of Internet users already the world’s largest has risen to 450 million this year, more than a third of the country’s population.

A senior Chinese official says that official statistics show that the new figure, as of the end of November, is an increase of 20.3 per cent compared to last year.

China’s boom in Internet usage has come with the growth of an equally extensive policing system, from technical filters that block sites based on certain words to human monitors who scan bulletin boards and micro-blogging posts for political dissent.

Wang Chen, head of China’s State Council Information Office, says a yearlong government crackdown on pornography, violence and other harmful material has resulted in the shutdown of 60,000 websites.

China shuts over 60,000 porn websites this year

The shut down led to the arrest of almost 5,000 suspects.

Beijing has run a highly publicised drive against what officials said was smutty and lewd content overwhelming the country’s Internet and cell phones, threatening the emotional health of children.

Critics accuse the Chinese government of deepening the crackdown, launched last December, and tightening overall censorship, and say that the push has netted many sites with politically sensitive or even simply user-generated content.

But Wang Chen, head of the State Council Information Office, or cabinet spokesman’s office, said the offensive was vital.