China’s firewall blacklists The Guardian, The Washington Post

The Washington Post and the Guardian, the two remaining English-language news sites are now blocked on China’s Internet. Bloomberg, the New York Times, Reuters, and the Wall Street Journal have been blocked for years.

China’s Internet censors rarely, if ever, communicate reasoning for blocking specific websites, and it is not clear whether the latest ban on the newspapers will be permanent. 

Additionally, in the weeks leading up to the 30th anniversary of Tiananmen Massacre anniversary on June 4, China ramped up censorship and blocked pictures and keywords related to the massacre on instant messaging service WeChat. Social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and WhatsApp are already inaccessible in China.

A CNN reporter said the network’s website was blocked again this week soon after CNN.com ran a top story commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre.