China top censor’s new leadership role raises fears

Chinese propaganda boss Liu Yunshan has risen to the country’s top leadership in what could be a perilous sign for online debate, critics of his censorship diktats over the last decade said on Friday.

China’s population of internet users – the world’s largest at 538 million – have become increasingly vocal on its booming social media sites despite the efforts of the ruling party’s highly secretive Propaganda Department.

In China, Twitter itself is blocked but “weibos”, or microblogging sites, function in a similar way, and authorities tightened their suppression efforts for the ruling party’s pivotal congress in Beijing this week.

During the meeting, searches for “party congress” on Sina Weibo, China’s most popular microblog, returned a blunt message: “Due to relevant laws, policies and regulations, the results of your search are not displayed.”

Even innocuous comments about the gathering and top leaders were frequently deleted by online censors, and internet access in major cities was reported to be noticeably slower, apparently reflecting stepped-up online oversight.

Google – which removed its search servers from China in 2010 in a row over user accounts being hacked, so that google.com now redirects Chinese visitors to an uncensored site in Hong Kong – was periodically blocked during the congress.

After the meeting ended Liu, 65, the propaganda department’s director, was named as a member of China’s top decision-making body, the party’s seven-member Politburo Standing Committee.