Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...2940411106988.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories
Updated September 19, 2013, 3:40 p.m. ET
China Intensifies Social-Media Crackdown
Campaign Takes Toll on Public Debate, Popular Platform
By JOSH CHIN And PAUL MOZUR
BEIJING?A forceful campaign of intimidation against China's most influential Internet users has cast a chill over public debate in the country and called into question the long-term viability of its most vibrant social-media platform.
In an offensive that some critics have likened to the political purges of the Mao era, Beijing has recently detained or interrogated several high-profile social-media figures, issued warnings to others to watch what they say and expanded criminal laws to make it easier to prosecute people for their online activity?all part of what one top propaganda official described on Tuesday as "the purification of the online environment..."
Updated September 19, 2013, 3:40 p.m. ET
China Intensifies Social-Media Crackdown
Campaign Takes Toll on Public Debate, Popular Platform
By JOSH CHIN And PAUL MOZUR
BEIJING?A forceful campaign of intimidation against China's most influential Internet users has cast a chill over public debate in the country and called into question the long-term viability of its most vibrant social-media platform.
In an offensive that some critics have likened to the political purges of the Mao era, Beijing has recently detained or interrogated several high-profile social-media figures, issued warnings to others to watch what they say and expanded criminal laws to make it easier to prosecute people for their online activity?all part of what one top propaganda official described on Tuesday as "the purification of the online environment..."