BEIJING, CHINA — Flexing its censorship muscles even further, the Chinese government has banned websites from linking to, advertising or hosting violent electronic games.On Monday, the Culture Ministry announced an initiative to rid Chinese cyberspace — which has been cordoned off from the rest of the Web by “the Great Firewall of China” — of games that “promote drug use, obscenities, gambling or crimes such as rape, vandalism and theft” because they are “‘against public morality and the nation’s fine cultural traditions,’” according to an Associated Press report.
The ban is effective immediately.
On January 1st, the Culture Ministry began a campaign to eradicate pornography and speech critical of official policy from the Web. Dozens of people have been “detained” following accusations they were involved with the production or distribution of virtual smut. Observers believe the Web-sanitization efforts are in preparation for presenting a positive image of the country’s culture during the celebration of the People’s Republic’s 60th anniversary in October.
Enforcing Web standards in China is a mammoth undertaking. The most-populous country in the world also has the most internet users: 298 million and rising.
