Internet in China

Danish toymaker Lego is teaming up with Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd to jointly develop online games and potentially a social network aimed at Chinese children.

A Chinese court has offered an unfinished 39-story building at an initial auction of 553 million yuan (71 million euros) online at an auction today, the France press reported.

The 156-meter building, with a total area of ​​76,000 square meters, is located in Taiyuan, in the northern province of Shanxi.

China has shut down or revoked the licenses of 13,000 websites since 2015 for violating the country’s internet rules, state media reported on Dec. 24.

Alibaba said on Nov. 20 that it would take a major stake in one of China's top food sellers for $2.9 billion as the e-commerce giant expands further into the retail world

Apple has removed software allowing internet users to skirt China's "Great Firewall" from its app store in the country, the company has confirmed, sparking criticism that it was bowing to Beijing's tightening web censorship.

China's Internet users - already by far the world's most numerous - rose to nearly 700 million in 2015, authorities said on Jan. 22, more than twice the population of the United States.

Beijing imposes strict controls on online content, while e-commerce is a vital part of its efforts to transform the economy into one driven more by consumer demand.

Chinese Internet users spent billions of dollars in the planet's biggest online shopping splurge Nov. 11, as "Singles Day" hit new heights, despite slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy.

Some 92 percent of the world's population lives in areas where a connection service of 2G or better is accessible, but four billion people still remain offline, according to a recent report.