China blocks access to WION website after India bans 59 Chinese apps

Three days ago, the Indian government blocked 59 Chinese apps to ensure safety and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace.

The decision was taken in the wake of a 'violent faceoff' between the Indian Army and Chinese forces along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.
 
In retaliation, Beijing has blocked access to the WION website - www.wionews.com - in mainland China. 

GreatFire.org, which is a Chinese internet monitoring watchdog, has confirmed that WION has been completely blocked in China.

Also Read: Chinese state-backed Global Times calls on WION to 'think independently'; We respond!

GreatFire.org has emerged as a database for internet censorship in China and international news outlets and researchers use it to track digital censorship there.

Since the beginning of coronavirus pandemic, WION has reported extensively on China's cover-up, and hence, Beijing expressed its displeasure over this in more ways than one.

Also Read: China is exposed. Thanks to Global Times editor

In March, the spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry,- Zhao Lijian, blocked WION on the social networking site Twitter. Chinese diplomats in India too criticised WION's coverage of the pandemic.

In June, a piece in the Global Times named WION, asking the channel to "think independently." The publication is perceived as the lifeline of Beijing’s propaganda machinery.

It's no secret that China doesn't like the idea of a free press and the ban on WION is part of the same strategy of press censorship.