China tightens control over internet during important political meeting

China announced during a top political conference this week that it has stepped up efforts to block software that allows internet users to access banned websites, a leading provider of firewall-breaking software said on Monday.

The Chinese government carries out the world’s most extensive censorship of the internet, with mainland Chinese web users unable to access everything from Google to news websites without using a virtual private network (VPN).

And this week, as thousands of delegates gather in Beijing for the annual “two-session” conference, VPN software will increasingly struggle to evade censorship, even as it has been used during previous sensitive political events. However, the frequency of service outages is much higher.

Increased censorship

“Censorship is currently being tightened in China due to political meetings,” said a representative from Liechtenstein-based service Astrill, one of the most popular VPN services for foreigners in China. . “Unfortunately, not all VPN protocols are functional at this time,” they said.

“We are working intensively to get all services back to normal, but there is no estimated arrival date at this time.”