China has blocked domestic access to
YouTube after videos showing the violence
in Tibet appeared on the site.
The Chinese government has not officially commented on the move, but internet
users in China trying to access YouTube get a blank screen. Other sites, such as
the web pages for the BBC,
The Guardian and
Flickr, have also been
blocked.
There have also been reports that internet cafes in Tibet are being shut down
by the army, eager to avert a repeat of the footage that leaked out of
Burmese
protests against the ruling junta in that country.
"In terms of the media there is no question that the Chinese Government has
imposed a lockdown of what they consider sensitive information or video footage,
" Ying Chan, journalism and media studies director at
the University of Hong Kong,
told
Al
Jazeera.
"We are relying on tourists, citizens sending information out."
Video sharing sites based in China such as
Tudou.com and
56.com are not hosting content
about the Tibet unrest, which has already claimed many lives and appears to be
spreading.
At the start of the year the Chinese government announced that video sharing
sites would have to be
state
controlled but backed down after a week of heavy lobbying and said that the
new laws did not apply to existing web sites.
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