China will completely block access to much of the global internet as part of a sweeping crackdown aimed at suppressing dissent and maintaining the Communist party’s grip on power. The government has ordered China’s three telecommunications companies to completely block access to virtual private networks, or VPNs, by February 2018, Bloomberg News reported, citing anonymous sources. The three internet providers, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, are all state-owned.
