China Blocks YouTube
The Internet is probably the only place where the Chinese can say or write what they want. But a report says that China’s Internet is one of the most controlled in the world.
The government forbids foreign websites most of the time. Last week it banned YouTube because it showed policemen who beat Tibetan monks. The government also puts website owners into prison if they don’t publish what they want.
Still, the Internet stays a main source of information in China. Not all websites can be blocked. If the government closes down 10 of them 20 other pop up somewhere else.
On the one side normal people are happy that they can read and post lots of things on the net, on the other side there are many who are angry that the government controls it too much. A lot of good information never makes it online.
Website owners get regular suggestions from the government that tell them what they can and cannot publish. Last month, for example, Chinese news websites were not allowed to write about a big oil refinery and how it affects the environment. Entertainment websites cannot write reviews on foreign films without permission from the government.
Words
- ban = forbid
- environment = the world around us
- foreign = from another country
- oil refinery = a building that change petroleum into petrol and other things
- pop up = come up
- publish = bring out into public
- regular = all the time
- review = an article that gives an opinion about a book, play or film
- source = the place where somehting comes from
- suggestion = here: to tell you how to do something