China has passed the billion mark for the first time, as smartphone use continues to grow rapidly with the digitization of services and the rise of infrastructure. The country has gained 21.75 million additional Internet users in six months – twice the population of Belgium – according to a report released Friday by the Chinese Internet Information Center (CNNIC), an official body.
The country has precisely 1.011 billion people connected, according to the last score carried out in June. The CNNIC explains this increase by improving infrastructure (relay antennas, networks), the appearance of new online services (public service, education) or even better logistics in small towns and the countryside, which makes it possible to develop ‘e-commerce. The national Internet coverage rate is 71.6% and 59.2% in rural areas.
A very supervised use
China is also closely monitoring its Internet to redact any content deemed sensitive, such as calls to overthrow the government, overly frontal criticism of national policies or even pornography. It also requires sites and social networks to have their own censors to carry out this task upstream. Control has been tightened in recent years under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, who advocates a growing strengthening of socialist ideology and morality within society.
Several foreign sites are also blocked in China, such as Facebook, Google, Instagram, WhatsApp, Gmail, YouTube and many media.