The Wire

The internet might not be the world’s most reliable source of information. But millions of people continue to use websites like Google and Wikipedia every day. Recently, some of the world’s biggest internet brands have been criticised for censoring their content, as they try to muscle into the lucrative Chinese market. Now, a popular Chinese search engine has started its own, self-censoring, internet encyclopaedia called Baidupedia. Entries created by users must first pass a filtering system before being added to the site. Content which won’t make the cut includes attacks on government institutions, and any entries promoting ‘a dispirited or negative view of life’.