China is now home to 632 million Internet users, a government agency said Monday, 21 July 2014, although use of social networks has dropped amid a crackdown.<\/p>\n
The Asian giant’s Internet population – defined as those who have gone online at least once in the past six months – has increased by 14 million since January, according to the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC).<\/p>\n
Mobile phone users represent a large share of the online population, the centre said, with 527 million people in China accessing the Internet using mobile devices in the six months to June.<\/p>\n
But even as the number of users of services such as online games, banking, and shopping continued to rise, use of social networks declined, the report said.<\/p>\n
According to CNNIC, 257 million people used social networking sites during the period, down from 278 million in its last set of figures in December – a 7.4 percent drop.<\/p>\n
The fall coincides with a crackdown over the past year on social media sites such as Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter equivalent, and Tencent’s WeChat, an instant messaging platform that allows users to send text, photos, videos, and voice messages over mobile devices.<\/p>\n
China already had more web users than any other country in the world. It is home to a huge e-commerce market and the web has been used by citizens to spotlight government abuses, creating a concern for the ruling Communist Party.<\/p>\n
Beijing maintains tight controls over the Internet, blocking websites it deems politically sensitive in a system dubbed the “Great Firewall of China” and obliging social media companies to censor user-generated content.<\/p>\n
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