PREV IN MIDDLE EAST

29/01/2011, Ahmad F Al-Shagra

China blocks the word “Egypt” on the country’s most popular Micro-Blogging Service

It appears the ripple effect caused by recent riots in Egypt and Tunisia have reached China where authorities have blocked search results for the term “Egypt” on local micro-blogging platform Sina.

Reported by the Associated Press today, the Chinese government has blocked the word “Egypt” from the country’s wildly popular Twitter-like service, while coverage of the political turmoil has been tightly restricted in state media.

Its worth noting that users of the platform from outside China are able to view results blocked from those inside China.

In a movement fueled by global social media platforms and networks, the people of Egypt have taken to the streets in an attempt to overthrow the 30 year old oppressive regime of President Husni Mubarak.

The impact web-based social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have provided the people of the Middle East a new uncontrolled communications medium that’s being used to organize mass demonstrations. The latest of which led to the recent toppling of 27 year reign of Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Egyptian authorities as of yesterday stopped all communication channels coming in and out of Egypt through major ISPs and telecom companies in an attempt to dethrottle the massive popular movement calling for its demise.

It appears the Chinese regime fears the success Egyptian masses might share with their Tunisian counterparts, that could inspire groups in China to attempt to do the same.

(source:thenextweb.com)

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