China’s internet watchdog shut down more than 4,200 sites and removed 55 apps from app stores for various breaches, including providing unauthorised news services, in the first quarter of the year alone.
The Cyberspace Administration of China said in a statement on Sunday it had also summoned people in charge of more than 2,200 websites and told them to rectify their content.
The announcement of its first-quarter crackdown came two weeks after Zhuang Rongwen, the director of the top internet regulator, pledged to clean up politically related content and “safeguard” the security of online opinion.