--- description: All virtual private networks, which allow Chinese Internet users to access blocked overseas websites, will now have to be authorized title: China Imposes Even Tighter Internet Controls image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50bbb5972ee5f58e/6988b6bdab6d77723f6ac925/rtxsoay.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # China Just Made It Even Harder to Get Around the Great Firewall by [Kevin Lui](/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 23, 2017 8:33 AM CUT  People use computers at an Internet cafe in Hefei, in China's Anhui province, on Sept. 26, 2010 People use computers at an Internet cafe in Hefei, in China's Anhui province, on Sept. 26, 2010Jianan Yu—Reuters by [Kevin Lui](/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 23, 2017 8:33 AM CUT While [calling for the maintenance of globalized free trade](http://time.com/4635963/xi-jinping-china-davos-world-economic-forum-trade-donald-trump/ "undefined") was high on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent agenda in Davos, no evidence suggests that facilitating the free flow of information is high on Beijing’s to-do list. A [notice](http://www.miit.gov.cn/n1146295/n1652858/n1652930/n3757020/c5471946/content.html "undefined") from the country’s Ministry of Information and Technology says that all virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow Chinese Internet users to access blocked overseas websites, will have to be authorized by telecoms regulators. The move is likely to make most current providers of VPNs in China unlawful, [reports](http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2064587/chinas-move-clean-vpns-and-strengthen-great-firewall "undefined") the _South China Morning Post_. Currently, Chinese web users have to rely on bypass technologies like VPNs to visit popular sites like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia, all of which are blocked from normal access by the country’s Great Firewall. Search terms and other content deemed unfavorable by the Chinese state, including references to the 1989 Tiananmen massacre and various Chinese officials, are also censored from the Chinese web. The ministry cited an “urgent need to regulate disorderly development” of the web industry in the notice explaining the move. Apart from VPNs, Beijing’s “cleanup” effort of the Internet connection business, which lasts till March 31, 2018, will also require all Internet-service providers (ISPs), data centers and content distribution networks (CDNs) in the country to be licensed by the government. **Read More:** [_See China’s Internet Dilemma in One Screen Grab_](http://time.com/3685380/china-internet-censorship/ "undefined") The move against unauthorized VPNs fits into a wider trend of tightening space for free expression in China. Last October, a report from the bipartisan U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China [found signs of further encroachment](http://time.com/4519160/china-xi-jinping-cecc-human-rights-rule-of-law/ "undefined") on already limited basic liberties. The Chinese state’s sweeping deployment of the Great Firewall is notorious, placing it [dead last worldwide](http://time.com/4092300/china-internet-freedom-house/ "undefined") on the Freedom House’s Internet-freedom rankings. It has also been widely reported that the country employs an army of human monitors to manually sweep Chinese cyberspace for what is deemed unlawful activity, [even within](http://time.com/3985422/china-internet-censors/ "undefined") the country’s burgeoning tech firms. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4642916/china-vpn-internet-great-firewall-censorship/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4642916/china-vpn-internet-great-firewall-censorship/"},"headline":"China Just Made It Even Harder to Get Around the Great Firewall","datePublished":"2017-01-23T08:33:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:50:53.284Z","description":"New rules on VPNs fit into a wider trend of tightening space for free expression in China","url":"https://time.com/4642916/china-vpn-internet-great-firewall-censorship/","keywords":["Tech","Internet","China","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50bbb5972ee5f58e/6988b6bdab6d77723f6ac925/rtxsoay.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin Lui","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50bbb5972ee5f58e/6988b6bdab6d77723f6ac925/rtxsoay.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"People use computers at an Internet cafe in Hefei","caption":"People use computers at an Internet cafe in Hefei","creditText":"Jianan Yu—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4642916/china-vpn-internet-great-firewall-censorship/","name":"China Just Made It Even Harder to Get Around the Great Firewall"}}]}] ```