China employs 2 million to police Internet

Well, I knew that China goes to great lengths to keep people shut up, but I did not know that they go this far. I kind of wonder why the Chinese allow the government to have this much control over their lives. More active online police than military personnel? How do we ever know the truth about anything that happens in China?

China has around two million people policing public opinion online, according to a state media report that sheds light on the country's secretive internet surveillance operations. Dubbed "public opinion analysts," they work for the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda department, major Chinese news websites and commercial corporations, according to The Beijing News. Using keyword searches, their job is to sift the millions of messages being posted on popular social media and microblogging sites such as Sina Weibo, regarded as China's equivalent to Twitter. They then compile reports for decision makers, the report said.

The ranks of online censors outnumber China's active armed forces, which total 1.5 million, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

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