China has always maintained very strict oversight of all online activity within its borders. The government has managed to keep an eye on the cyber-commotion by adhering to policies of reduced access to specific sites and restrictions on search engines, such as Google. While these controls have historically worked well to control the population’s access to information and media which the government deems adverse, anti-communist, anti-government or “inappropriate,” the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is finding it more and more difficult to control the ever-expanding realm of interactive social networks.
This has most recently been witnessed very publicly, as Chinese government officials have blocked internet access to Twitter, Flickr, Live.com, Hotmail.com, WordPress, YouTube, and Blogger, as well as other sites, in preparation for the 20th Anniversary of the Tienanmen Square protests. Reports have claimed that the government is trying to minimize any negative press or adverse attention on the government. Since interactive networks like Twitter make it easier for people to communicate and form plans for larger, more unified social action, the government has become particularly weary of such social networks. In this way, the PRC is trying to clamp down on any negative writing that might be read by the Chinese people.
It is unclear, at this time, how the Chinese people and/or the international community will respond to this, as it is unprecedented. However, it is clearly another example of the Chinese government’s struggle to keep the ever changing and expanding internet under their careful control. How successful they will be is still to be determined.