China

Overview

While the Internet user base in China is the largest in the world—and its Internet culture is one of the most vibrant and dynamic—China maintains a pervasive and sophisticated regime of Internet filtering and information control. The Chinese government uses a range of content controls, including outright blocking of threatening websites, careful monitoring and filtering of individual social media posts, search result filtering, and occasional complete Internet blackouts in specific regions to maintain its control over online information flows. Despite this, China has robust native social networks that include Sina Weibo (a Twitter-like microblogging site with over 300 million active users) as well as large, extremely active blogging and micro-blogging communities that engage in significant cultural and political discourse online.

Access

According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the number of Internet users in China reached 564 million by the end of 2012, the largest national user base in the world. Individual Internet use in China is growing rapidly and expanding into previously inaccessible areas, with the penetration rate rising to 42.1 percent in 2012 from 28.9 in 2009.

The majority of users access the Internet at home, as Internet cafes have begun to slide in popularity. The average Chinese Internet user spent just over 20 hours per week online in 2012, up slightly from 18.7 hours in 2011. A striking 74.5 percent of users accessed the Internet via mobile phones in 2012, a number partly driven by the increase of mobile handset and broadband availability. The vast majority of Internet connections are via broadband rather than dial-up. Though broadband is generally affordable in urban areas, prices are expected to drop in the near future. Although Internet access is expanding into rural regions, nearly three fourths of Chinese Internet users are based in urban areas.

Control

China has one of the most tightly controlled online spaces in the world. The Chinese government employs a range of tactics to manipulate the flow of information online, including laws and regulations that prohibit users from disseminating and accessing content deemed subversive, coercing ISPs to censor and monitor user communications according to official directives, requiring users to register online accounts using their real names, and covertly hiring people to tout pro-government views and discredit opponents (known as the “Fifty-Cent Party” for the amount each member is allegedly paid). Recent research suggests that Chinese censors focus more on content that encourages collective action, rather than all content critical of the government. China has also used “just-in-time” filtering during sensitive events. For example, keyword searches for “Egypt” were blocked on major Internet portals Sina.com during the social unrest in Egypt in 2011, and the 2009 riots in Urumqi led to both a complete Internet blackout in the country’s Xinjiang region and a drastic tightening of Internet censorship nationwide, including the blocking of Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.

Activity

Despite heavy content controls that target major political issues that threaten the regime, such as riots in minority groups, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, civic movements, and other forms of collective action, the Internet has opened an alternative space for public opinion in China. According to the China Internet Network Information Center, the number of microbloggers in China rose to 309 million in 2012, accounting for over half (54.7 percent) of the country’s Internet user base. Microbloggers’ influence as a source of news and an outlet for public opinion has correspondingly grown. Microblogs’ speed of transmission and other censorship loopholes have enabled netizens to outpace censors, draw attention to incipient scandals, and mount online campaigns, such as putting pressure on the government to cancel an environmentally damaging waste water pipeline project in 2012. However, these efforts are often met with strict opposition from government censors. In 2011, directives restricting reporting on a fatal high-speed rail collision sparked a fierce and widespread outcry on Sina Weibo, thwarting attempts to censor information about the crash.

According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the number of Internet users in China reached 564 million by the end of 2012, the largest national user base in the world. Individual Internet use in China is growing rapidly and expanding into previously inaccessible areas, with the penetration rate rising to 42.1 percent in 2012 from 28.9 in 2009.

The majority of users access the Internet at home, as Internet cafes have begun to slide in popularity. The average Chinese Internet user spent just over 20 hours per week online in 2012, up slightly from 18.7 hours in 2011. A striking 74.5 percent of users accessed the Internet via mobile phones in 2012, a number partly driven by the increase of mobile handset and broadband availability. The vast majority of Internet connections are via broadband rather than dial-up. Though broadband is generally affordable in urban areas, prices are expected to drop in the near future. Although Internet access is expanding into rural regions, nearly three fourths of Chinese Internet users are based in urban areas.

China has one of the most tightly controlled online spaces in the world. The Chinese government employs a range of tactics to manipulate the flow of information online, including laws and regulations that prohibit users from disseminating and accessing content deemed subversive, coercing ISPs to censor and monitor user communications according to official directives, requiring users to register online accounts using their real names, and covertly hiring people to tout pro-government views and discredit opponents (known as the “Fifty-Cent Party” for the amount each member is allegedly paid). Recent research suggests that Chinese censors focus more on content that encourages collective action, rather than all content critical of the government. China has also used “just-in-time” filtering during sensitive events. For example, keyword searches for “Egypt” were blocked on major Internet portals Sina.com during the social unrest in Egypt in 2011, and the 2009 riots in Urumqi led to both a complete Internet blackout in the country’s Xinjiang region and a drastic tightening of Internet censorship nationwide, including the blocking of Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.

Despite heavy content controls that target major political issues that threaten the regime, such as riots in minority groups, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, civic movements, and other forms of collective action, the Internet has opened an alternative space for public opinion in China. According to the China Internet Network Information Center, the number of microbloggers in China rose to 309 million in 2012, accounting for over half (54.7 percent) of the country’s Internet user base. Microbloggers’ influence as a source of news and an outlet for public opinion has correspondingly grown. Microblogs’ speed of transmission and other censorship loopholes have enabled netizens to outpace censors, draw attention to incipient scandals, and mount online campaigns, such as putting pressure on the government to cancel an environmentally damaging waste water pipeline project in 2012. However, these efforts are often met with strict opposition from government censors. In 2011, directives restricting reporting on a fatal high-speed rail collision sparked a fierce and widespread outcry on Sina Weibo, thwarting attempts to censor information about the crash.