2015-09-06
397
Few people remain unaware that the Internet is censored for China's 538 million users, but misperceptions persist about how it works. Here are five of the most common myths about Chinese online censorship, debunked.
Censorship means the Chinese are left in the dark.
Chinese Internet users are cosmopolitan, educated, and informed. Many use, or at least know they can use, circumvention technology like VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) to access blocked content. (These will always thrive, if nothing else, in order to access porn.)
Attempts to visit blocked sites sometimes return responses that make them indistinguishable from genuine technical issues, but most return messages such as "Sorry, the host you were looking for does not exist, has been deleted, or is being investigated."
It's the government that censors.
This is true -- to a point. The government maintains the Great Firewall and hires Internet police as well as wumaodang, or "50-cent party members" -- people paid to influence Internet discussion by writing social media posts extolling the government's position on issues. They're known as "50-cent" because they're selling out for cheap; the Chinese equivalent of a two-dollar whore. There are an estimated 250,000-300,000 wumaodang, who sometimes work with China's 30,000-50,000 Internet police.
Companies must sign a "Public Pledge on Self-Discipline for China Internet Industry" in order to get a Chinese Internet Content Provider license, and the government holds all Internet companies operating within China, both foreign and domestic, liable for everything that appears on their sites. This includes comments on social media, and even on online chat and instant messaging. Companies deemed not in compliance can have their business license revoked and be summarily shut down.
As a result, every large Internet company employs its own censors.
