China says ‘harmful info’ must be managed after VPNs blocked

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese official says that “harmful information” must be managed following reports that China is blocking VPN services that let users access censored online content.

Wen Ku, director of telecoms development at the Ministry of Industry and Information, declined to elaborate on what “harmful” meant and did not respond directly to the reports over the past week that China has been blocking some virtual private network services.

Wen also told reporters Tuesday that China would introduce new Internet regulatory measures “as new circumstances arise.”

The Chinese government blocks thousands of websites to prevent what it deems politically sensitive information from reaching Chinese users. Tech companies and specialists said last week that the intensified controls had hit a wide swath of VPN services.