Editing Internet censorship in China (section)

===Targeted content===
{{See also|List of websites blocked in mainland China}}
According to a [[Harvard University|Harvard]] study, at least 18,000 websites were blocked from within mainland China in 2002,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/ |date = March 2003 | title = Empirical Analysis of Internet Filtering in China | access-date = 30 December 2006 | first1= Jonathan | last1 = Zittrain | first2 = Benjamin | last2 = Edelman | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150515143108/http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/ | archive-date = 15 May 2015 | url-status = live }}</ref> including 12 out of the Top 100 Global Websites. The Chinese-sponsored news agency, Xinhua, stated that censorship targets only "superstitious, pornographic, violence-related, gambling, and other harmful information."<ref>China and the Internet. International Debates, 15420345, Apr2010, Vol. 8, Issue 4</ref> This appears questionable, as the e-mail provider [[Gmail]] is blocked, and it cannot be said to fall into any of these categories.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.greatfire.org/gmail.com|access-date=9 September 2014|title=GreatFire.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911002139/https://en.greatfire.org/gmail.com|archive-date=11 September 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> On the other hand, websites centered on the following political topics are often censored: [[Falun Gong]],<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web |url=http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/ |title=Empirical Analysis of Internet Filtering in China |first1=Jonathan|last1=Zittrain|first2=Benjamin|last2=Edelman |work=IEEE Internet Computing (March/April 2003) |publisher=Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard Law School (Cyber.law.harvard.edu) |date=20 March 2003 |access-date=1 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150515143108/http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/ |archive-date=15 May 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[police brutality]], the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre]], [[freedom of speech]], [[democracy]],<ref name="youtubeblock">{{cite news|url= http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0224/p01s04-woap.html|title= China's media censorship rattling world image|last= Marquand|first= Robert|date= 4 February 2006|newspaper= [[Christian Science Monitor]]|access-date= 25 February 2006|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150926111156/http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0224/p01s04-woap.html|archive-date= 26 September 2015|url-status= live}}</ref> the [[Tibetan independence movement]],<ref name="autogenerated1" /> and the Tuidang movement.<ref>Xia, Bill. "Google.cn's Self Censorship." Chinascope. May/June 2008.</ref> According to a 2023 report by [[Human Rights Watch]], content that criticizes [[racism in China]] will often be censored.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yang |first=William |date=August 16, 2023 |title=Chinese Social Media Platforms Fail to Control Racism Against Black People: Report |work=[[Voice of America]] |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/chinese-social-media-platforms-fail-to-control-racism-against-black-people-report/7227458.html |access-date=August 16, 2023 |quote=Videos or posts that promote racial equality or criticize racism in China will often be censored after becoming a trending topic on Chinese social media platforms. |archive-date=17 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230817022753/https://www.voanews.com/a/chinese-social-media-platforms-fail-to-control-racism-against-black-people-report/7227458.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Testing performed by [[Freedom House]] in 2011 confirmed that material written by or about activist bloggers is removed from the Chinese Internet in a practice that has been termed "cyber-disappearance".<ref>[http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2011/07/14/2003508163 "'Cyberdisappearance' taking hold"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103184336/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2011/07/14/2003508163 |date=3 November 2013 }} , Sarah Cook, ''Taipei Times'', 14 July 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.freedomhouse.org/article/china-media-bulletin-issue-no-29#2 "CMB special feature: Cyberdisappearance in Action"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201081340/https://freedomhouse.org/article/china-media-bulletin-issue-no-29#2 |date=1 December 2017 }} , China Media Bulletin: Issue No. 29 (14 July 2011), Freedom House. Retrieved 4 September 2013.</ref><ref>[http://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/Cyberdisappearance%20in%20Action_special_feature-FINAL_0.pdf "Cyberdisappearance in Action"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104201214/http://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/Cyberdisappearance%20in%20Action_special_feature-FINAL_0.pdf |date=4 November 2013 }} , Sarah Cook, Freedom House, 14 July 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2013.</ref>

A 2012 study of social media sites by other Harvard researchers found that 13% of Internet posts were blocked. The blocking focused mainly on any form of collective action (anything from false rumors driving riots to protest organizers to large parties for fun), pornography, and criticism of the censors. However, significant criticisms of the government were not blocked when made separately from calls for collective action. Another study has shown comments on social media that criticize the state, its leaders, and their policies are usually published, but posts with collective action potential will be more likely to be censored whether they are against the state or not.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=King|first1=Gary|last2=Pan|first2=Jennifer|last3=Roberts|first3=Margaret E.|date=22 August 2014|title=Reverse-engineering censorship in China: Randomized experimentation and participant observation|journal=Science|volume=345|issue=6199|page=1251722|doi=10.1126/science.1251722|issn=0036-8075|pmid=25146296|s2cid=5398090|url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:37091695|access-date=31 August 2019|archive-date=24 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200824001559/https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/37091695|url-status=live}}</ref>

A lot of larger Japanese websites were blocked from the afternoon of 15 June 2012 (UTC+08:00) to the morning of 17 June 2012 (UTC+08:00), such as Google Japan, Yahoo! Japan, Amazon Japan, Excite, Yomiuri News, Sponichi News and Nikkei BP Japan.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/china-japan-blocked-bo-xilai-2012-6?r=US&IR=T=China|title=UNPRECEDENTED: China Blocked Every Japanese Domain For Almost Two Days Last Week|date=19 June 2012|work=Business Insider Australia|access-date=10 May 2017|archive-date=12 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712042422/https://www.businessinsider.com.au/china-japan-blocked-bo-xilai-2012-6?r=US&IR=T=China|url-status=live}}</ref>

Chinese censors have been relatively reluctant to block websites where there might be significant economic consequences. For example, a block of [[GitHub]] was reversed after widespread complaints from the Chinese [[software developer]] community.<ref>[https://en.greatfire.org/blog/2013/jan/china-github-and-man-middle China, GitHub and the man-in-the-middle] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819165216/https://en.greatfire.org/blog/2013/jan/china-github-and-man-middle |date=19 August 2016 }}  ''greatfire.org'' 30 January 2013</ref> In November 2013 after the Chinese services of [[Reuters]] and the ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' were blocked, [[GreatFire]] mirrored the Reuters website to an [[Amazon.com]] domain in such a way that it could not be shut down without shutting off domestic access to all of Amazon's [[cloud storage service]].<ref>[https://en.greatfire.org/blog/2013/nov/look-ma-i-can-see-through-great-firewall I can see through the Great Firewall!] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203061052/https://en.greatfire.org/blog/2013/nov/look-ma-i-can-see-through-great-firewall |date=3 December 2013 }}  ''greatfire.org'' 17 November 2013</ref>

For one month beginning 17 November 2014, [[ProPublica]] tested whether the homepages of 18 international news organizations were accessible to browsers inside China, and found the most consistently blocked were ''[[Bloomberg News]]'', [[The New York Times|''The'' ''New York Times'']], ''[[South China Morning Post]]'', [[The Wall Street Journal|''The'' ''Wall Street Journal'']], Facebook, and Twitter.<ref>[https://projects.propublica.org/firewall/ Inside the Firewall: Tracking the News That China Blocks] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605095642/https://projects.propublica.org/firewall/ |date=5 June 2015 }} , ProPublica, 17 December 2014.</ref> Internet censorship and surveillance has been tightly implemented in China that block social websites like Gmail, Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others. The censorship practices of the Great Firewall of China have now impacted the VPN service providers as well.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |date=August 22, 2024 |title=Why are VPNs getting slower in China? |url=https://www.economist.com/china/2024/08/22/why-are-vpns-getting-slower-in-china |url-access=subscription |access-date=2024-08-22 |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |issn=0013-0613}}</ref> In November 2024, despite being previously blocked, [[OnlyFans]] became available in mainland China, according to GreatFire.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Liu |first=Juliana |date=2024-12-05 |title=OnlyFans is now accessible in China |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/05/tech/china-onlyfans-accessible-hnk-intl/index.html |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=[[CNN Business]] |language=en}}</ref>

==== Artificial intelligence training data ====
{{Further|Artificial intelligence industry in China}}
In 2023, in-country access was blocked to [[Hugging Face]], a company that maintains [[Library (computing)|libraries]] containing [[Training, validation, and test data sets|training data sets]] commonly used for [[Large language model|large language models]].<ref name=":11">{{Cite news |last=Lin |first=Liza |date=July 15, 2024 |title=China Puts Power of State Behind AI—and Risks Strangling It |url=https://www.wsj.com/tech/china-puts-power-of-state-behind-aiand-risks-strangling-it-f045e11d |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 16, 2024 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |archive-date=16 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716031258/https://www.wsj.com/tech/china-puts-power-of-state-behind-aiand-risks-strangling-it-f045e11d |url-status=live }}</ref>