China Censorship: Week of Aug. 21 2017

This is the first post of my attempt to collate the weekly news regarding web censorship in China (with some light commentary). This was suggested to me by some of the attendees and fellow speakers at last week’s WordCamp for Publishers. I’d like to have hear your input!

Week of August 21, 2017: In the scope of China, most people were talking about the Cambridge University Press scandal, but a few other things popped up as well. A chunk of this content are things I got from the Sinocism Newsletter, which I recommend you subscribe to.

• Reuters – Zhejiang Branch of the Cybersecurity Administration of China’s instructed Alibaba to remove “illegal” VPN software from Alibaba’s ecommerce platform Taobao
  • More info (in Chinese): 浙江网信办约谈淘宝网、同花顺金融网等5家网站
• The New York Times – Facebook’s stealth entry into China via the “Balloons” app raises a lot of questions for users and China-watchers.
• Reuters – Breakdown of the “blunt” censorship methods used to block academic articles and searches from the Cambridge University Press
  • More on the CUP scandal: China Heritage – Burn The Books, Bury the Scholars!

• Bonus! The New York Times Alibaba reports record earnings. (China’s protectionist censorship regime to block Western social media platforms has enabled China to foster some of the largest tech companies in the world)