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China Closes More Than 13,000 Websites in Past Three Years (reuters.com)
China has closed more than 13,000 websites since the beginning of 2015 for breaking the law or other rules and the vast majority of people support government efforts to clean up cyberspace, state news agency Xinhua reports. From the report: The government has stepped up already tight controls over the internet since President Xi Jinping took power five years ago, in what critics say is an effort to restrict freedom of speech and prevent criticism of the ruling Communist Party. The government says all countries regulate the internet, and its rules are aimed at ensuring national security and social stability and preventing the spread of pornography and violent content. A report to the on-going session of the standing committee of China's largely rubber stamp parliament said the authorities had targeted pornography and violence in their sweeps of websites, blogs and social media accounts, Xinhua said.
Regulating porn gives them an 'in' to regulate everything and anything. You get the infrastructure in place, and get people accustomed to the idea that one of the government's responsibilities is to protect them online. You regulate porn for the public good, and in addition just happen to take down anything else that you want without a huge public outcry about it, because it's pretty much just business as usual, government doing what government does.