China shuts down three internet service providers after censors complain of improper comments

Three popular Chinese internet services have been ordered to stop streaming video after censors complained it contained improper comments about sensitive issues. The move prompted a sell-off in the US-trade shares of Sina Corp. and its microblog service, Sina Weibo. Authorities said Thursday video streamed by users of Sina Weibo, ACFUN and a website of Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV contained “negative comments” about unspecified sensitive issues. Communist leaders promote internet use for business and education but operate extensive censorship aimed at blocking access to material deemed subversive or obscene. Internet companies are required to enforce censorship by removing postings about politically sensitive topics.Sina Weibo shares fell 6.1 percent on the Nasdaq market and shares of Sina fell 4.8 percent. This information comes after recently China hired more than 20,000 people to build the country’s online version of national encyclopaedia to compete with Wikipedia, media reports said. The Chinese Wikipedia will be launched in 2018 and will feature 300,000 entries at about 1,000 words each, the BBC reported. Currently, Wikipedia is available in China but some of its contents are blocked. “The Encyclopaedia of China is not a book but a Great Wall of culture,” the report quoted Yang Muzhi, the editor-in-chief of the project, as saying. Associated Press