China intensifies censorship under aegis of cyber crimes control

National media regulator in China, that has Internet population growing by leaps and bounds, has severed monitoring in a move to prevent online crimes.

As Wang Chen, head of the Information Office of the State Council, said the country would intensify a crackdown on online crimes as part of an ongoing campaign that netted more than 5,510 suspects last year.

The country’s media regulator also unveiled its intention to strengthen monitoring on "harmful information" on the Internet in a bid to block overseas harmful information from spreading in the country and prevent "overseas hostile forces from infiltrating through the Internet,"

At present, China has about 404 million Internet users, including 346 million who use broadband and 233 million who use mobile phones. And of course, online fraud and rampant viruses and hacking represents constantly growing problem in China.

Last year, China started  a three-phase campaign to tighten Internet controls and reduce citizens' ability to operate anonymously on the Internet. It has blocked a number of foreign social media sites since last year, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.