The Role Of Censorship In China

We are living in the information age, but when it comes to the largest modern source for information, how much control do our governments have over what we can see or say? In some countries, such as China, the government only allows citizens to see what the government wants them to see. In fact, China is so bent on controlling and monitoring what people can see and say, that one could argue that those citizens’ rights to freedom of speech and expression are being violated. Of course, these violations are easily kept secret from the world. However, such huge censorship efforts have the potential to backfire on the country. The internet has already proven itself as a valuable tool in political change. This is why those people who do have their …show more content…
With large groups, such as Apple, keeping their Chinese censorship policies secret from the public and others completely removing their service from the country rather than accommodate to the government’s desires, it is clear that China is holding a tight grip on the local internet. Observations have shown that China censors anything featuring maps of certain Chinese sites, various religious beliefs, or protest. For example, “Facebook found itself shut off a few months after the 2008 Lhasa riots, when Tibetans and their supporters used Facebook to broadcast their grievances with Beijing's rule,” with Twitter following shortly after (Fish). Another interesting observation researchers made was that, when regarding posts on Chinese websites, rather than censoring single posts criticizing the government, censorship attempts to limit collective action on the internet (King). This further supports that the Chinese government is trying to prevent citizens from bringing change upon the country. Through this effort, China has created a reputation in internet …show more content…
People have found many roundabout ways of accessing information that the Chinese government censors. The government does make it more difficult to access certain information, but cannot prevent it. Author Haiping Zheng also concludes that “although censorship may make it more difficult for individuals to find certain ‘sensitive’ information, it cannot entirely block such information,” and uses the example that many citizens in China can use circumvention technology to access censored information. Another example of citizens managing to make political statements despite China’s strict management comes in the form of bloggers. Many Chinese bloggers’ political statements have become increasingly popular. One example of a particularly popular blogger is a man named Han Han who continues, even to this date, to make political statements in China (Broaded). China is also capable of finding ways to counter the people who are working past the government. This is why it would be more effective for people living in countries with more freedom should help support freedom in China. It is important to note that as other countries, such as the United States, continue to pressure China; some form of change is