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BBC Chinese: China’s “Internet Czar” Lu Wei under Investigation

BBC Chinese recently reported that the Central Discipline Inspection Commission of the Communist Party detained Lu Wei, the former Deputy Minister of the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party and Director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs. Lu was detained for a corruption investigation. He was widely known as the Chinese “Internet Czar” and was in charge of China’s online censorship management. He initiated many critical actions to tighten up control of the Internet, such as blocking commercial websites from news editing rights, promoting self-regulation among well-known online public figures, bringing criminal charges against people who re-posted content that the government had banned, and strengthening the blockage of international websites such as Google, Twitter, and Wikipedia. Publicly Lu even refused to admit “bringing down” these international sites in China. However, while celebrating the fall of Lu, Chinese netizens remain widely concerned about China’s online censorship. Many said that this positive event may not fundamentally change China’s long-lasting censorship policies.

Source: BBC Chinese, November 22, 2017
http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-42077473