Chinese drill to pull plug on ‘harmful’ websites

China has held a drill with internet service providers to practise taking down “harmful” websites, as censors tighten control ahead of a sensitive five-yearly political reshuffle this year.

Internet data centres and cloud companies were ordered to participate in a three-hour “emergency response” exercise. The ministry of public security said the drill would “step up online security for the 19th Party Congress and tackle websites illegally disseminating harmful information”.