Censorship

internet competition & censorship in china

Harshada Shewale & Amritpal Singh

General Theme and Role of Chinese Government

A wide variety of laws and administrative regulations have been imposed by the government of China on internet companies in China, implemented through state owned organizations and have come to be known as “The Great Firewall”. Internet censorship in China takes the form of blocking of websites as well as content monitoring by the state, in tandem with curbing freedom of speech through other media forms. The Chinese government defends its policy saying that the country has a right to govern internet within its own borders and targeted content generally includes political issues, freedom of speech, democracy, Tibetan independence, pornography and social media but stays clear of economic matters. The new approach to censorship in China is the 50 Cent Party- one where nearly 300,000 Chinese citizens are paid 50 cents per comment they post online, if it is favorable to the Chinese government.

Internet censorship in China is affecting international giants like Google and Facebook, particularly in light of the increasing clout of Chinese home giants like Baidu. We aim to study the current scenario of social media & internet in China and the impact of Chinese competition on companies like Facebook globally. We shall try to answer the following questions: Is there a future for Chinese technology companies? Can these become global brands? What is the risk for Google and Facebook due to censorship within China? We would focus on competition between Chinese companies and international web giants.

Impact of censorship for China and the world

Internet censorship in China has major impact on China’s economy, local internet companies as well as existing foreign players & new entrants.

Firstly, internet censorship increases the costs of doing business-in the form of wasted productivity, not just for regular business but for start-ups...