China lifts microblog controls that sparked outcry

BEIJING—Users of two popular microblog services in China can once again make comments after a three-day ban that prompted an outcry online.

Sina’s Weibo.com and Tencent’s t.qq.com stopped allowing their users to make comments on others’ microblogs on Saturday. The two companies which say they have a total of nearly 700 million accounts resumed normal services Tuesday.

They said the interruption was aimed at “cleaning up” illegal and harmful information left on some microblogs.

They offered no further detail. But the move happened as China’s authoritarian government closed a dozen websites following a flurry of rumors online about the downfall of a prominent Community Party figure, Bo Xilai.

China’s government routinely censors online content.

Read more...