China Bans YouTube
For the third time since 2007, China has banned YouTube. The ban started Monday and has continued. Notorious for blocking access to online sources of information that it deems threatening, sensitive, or unacceptable, China has in the past also banned users from popular websites such as Flickr, the New York Times, Wikipedia, BlogSpot, along with dozens of others.
Past bans on Internet content in China have included pro-Democracy and anti-China material, pornography, and information about contentious issues such as Tibet or Taiwan. Chinese Internet users are required to sign in with their official identities in order to use the Internet, ostensibly so their Internet usage can be monitored.
The official reason for this latest ban is not yet known. Some claim it’s because of graphic videos showing Chinese soldiers beating and torturing Tibetan monks and civilians. The Chinese government has since called the videos fakes, however, it has not yet released an official statement about why YouTube is blocked.