China uses ‘Great Firewall’ to block Washington Post, Guardian websites
- Newspapers’ sites had until recently been among the few major English-language outlets still regularly accessible in mainland China
- Latest restrictions come amid increased censorship around 30th anniversary of Tiananmen Square crackdown
The websites of The Washington Post and The Guardian appear to be blocked in China as the country’s government tightens its so-called Great Firewall censorship apparatus as it navigates a politically sensitive period.
Until this weekend, the two newspapers were among the last of the major English-language outlets that were still regularly accessible from mainland China without the use of virtual private networking (VPN) software, according to the censorship tracker Greatfire.org.
Chinese internet authorities went into overdrive ahead of the 30th anniversary of the bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, prohibiting users of the popular WeChat social media service from posting keywords or pictures related to the event.
All but the most oblique references to the incident were immediately scrubbed and, during the days around the anniversary, users complained of not being able even to access the function to change their avatars.
