Chinese Censorship Even More Repressive

It is already well-known that China has committed many freedom of speech violations, but apart from than the continued internet censoring measures that China has been undertaking are quite likely founded in protectionist ideas; ideas that may get the nation in trouble with the WTO.

Recently the Chinese government have either blocked access to or shut down 700 plus websites in addition to the tens of thousands of already blocked sites. Freedom of speech violations is one thing, but in blocking many of these sites including Google, YouTube and Twitter, China is damaging foreign commerce and trade. China is also preventing the use of mobile applications which is/was a $29 million industry there and should be a steadily growing industry, blocking even its own innovation.

With 300 million people using the internet in China, China has become almost irresistible to foreign tech companies, however as China only allows access to companies that they deem as being politically reliable this cuts off a lot of international business. If China doesn't change its policies and allow more businesses to penetrate its firewall, they very likely could have a WTO dispute on their hands.