As censorship in China increases, VPNs are becoming more important

Li jiaqi, a popular Chinese influencer, had a talent for selling cosmetics. But his last performance was an unintentional advertisement for virtual private networks (vpns), which help Chinese netizens get around online censorship. On June 3rd Mr Li live-streamed himself with an ice-cream cake that looked like a tank. This seemed to anger the authorities, who may have viewed it as a reference to the Tiananmen Square massacre, when soldiers and tanks fired on protesters in Beijing, killing hundreds, if not thousands, in 1989. Its anniversary was a day later, something Mr Li may not have known since the government blocks online discussion of the bloodshed. Nevertheless, his show was cut off.