Searches About Turmoil in Egypt Blocked in China

Added by Annika L. Krugel on January 30, 2011

On the instruction of the Chinese authorities, the word ‘Egypt’ has been blocked from the most popular twitter-like micro-blogging service in the country. In addition to this, there is a ban on covering Egypt’s political turmoil in the Chinese news media.

The reason for the ban on coverage of the crises in Egypt and the blockage of Egypt related news on the micro-blogging network stems out of the sensitive nature of the currently ruling Communist Party of China which doesn’t approve of any act which might incite public unrest in the country.

Now, if a search for the word or any phrase including the word ‘Egypt’ is done on the Sina Micro-blogging service in China, it says, “According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, the search results are not shown.”

Sina micro-blogging portal has almost 50 million users across the country. The news about the turmoil in Egypt and the resulting social unrest from the protests has been covered very briefly in a few Chinese news websites but unfortunately is buried in their inner pages.

Surprisingly, the China Central Television however broadcast a report on the political crisis of Egypt in its mid-day transmission today.