BEIJING (AP) – China is beefing up a campaign to root out services that circumvent the government’s internet censorship with a 14-month-long “clean-up” of the internet industry.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a directive that it forbids the operation of virtual private networks (VPNs) or leased lines that allow users and businesses to access blocked overseas websites without government permission.
Between now and March 2018, authorities will enforce the regulations with inspections of cloud-hosting and content-delivery services, an industry that has shown signs of “disorderly development,” the ministry said Sunday.
The new enforcement measures are the latest steps in the Chinese government’s efforts to cement its grip over the domestic internet and closely control what information may be accessed by the country’s 731 million internet users.
President Xi Jinping’s administration has championed a vision of “internet sovereignty” in which governments have the right to wall off their nation’s cyberspace from unwanted elements as if it were physical territory.