Chinese authorities request e-commerce platforms to stop the sale of VPNs

Chinese authorities have issued warning to the country’s top ecommerce platforms, including Alibaba’s Taobao.com, over the sale of virtual private networks (VPNs) that allow users to avoid state censorship controls. Platforms have been asked to remove vendors of VPNs according to a notice posted by the Zhejiang provincial branch of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), China’s top cyber regulator. In July China passed laws, which will come into effect February 2018, requiring telecommunications providers to block the use of VPNs.