China has extended the ban on Wikipedia form the Chinese language to all language. Now, Wikipedia is no more accessible in any language in China.
According to a report published by Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), China started blocking Wikipedia for all languages sometime in April. The Chinese government had already blocked Wikipedia for the Chinese language since 2015. However, Wikimedia Foundation told AFP that it hadn't received any notices regarding the block.
The reason behind this block is ill-defined, but the ban comes just weeks before the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, which culminated in a violent government crackdown. China has blocked the particular web pages referencing the tragedy and the Himalayan region of Tibet, but it is impossible to block particular webpages of Wikipedia, as the site switched to HTTPS. So, a blanket ban would be the only way to preclude people from reading articles, especially since translation is readily available.
The Chinese government hasn't been shy about cutting down internet access to people. Earlier this year, one man spent 15 days in a detention centre for posting a tweet, which was about criticising the government.
The ban on Wikipedia could be more painful for Chinese people, especially for non-residents, as it cuts off access to a wealth of knowledge. Apart from China, the free community-edited encyclopaedia site was blocked in Turkey and it has been blocked intermittently in Venezuela this year.
