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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Amy Hawkins in Beijing

‘Alarming’ rise in regional internet censorship in China, study finds

Young woman using mobile phone to send WhatsApp message. Closeup of hands.
Internet users in China cannot access most western news websites or social media platforms, including services provided by Google, Wikipedia and Meta. Photograph: DCPhoto/Alamy

China’s authorities appear to have implemented an enhanced version of the country’s internet censorship regime in the central province of Henan, subjecting tens of millions of residents to even stricter controls on access to information than people in the rest of the country.

A research paper published this month by Great Firewall Report, an internet censorship monitoring platform, found that internet users in Henan, one of China’s most populous provinces, were, on average, denied access to five times more websites than a typical Chinese internet user between November 2023 and March 2025.

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