By the numbers: Since December, the authorities have closed more than 140,000 blogs and deleted more than 500,000 articles, according to the state-run news media, saying that they contained false information, distortions or obscenities.

In Indonesia: A sweeping online criminal defamation law has allowed the arrest of a professor who sang an old anti-army song in a video, and 10 months in prison for a housewife who sent four WhatsApp messages that a local company found insulting.

Here’s what else is happening

Trade war: China and the U.S. are pushing to complete a trade deal next month, but with Washington planning to hold the threat of tariffs over Beijing to ensure compliance, some fear the economic damage and uncertainty from the trade war could persist.

Philippines: The country formally withdrew from the International Criminal Court as it faced a preliminary inquiry into whether President Rodrigo Duterte had engaged in mass murder and crimes against humanity in his bloody and extrajudicial drug crackdown. On Thursday, Mr. Duterte publicly released a new list of people that he claims are “narcopoliticians” — including many who are his political opponents.

Cyclone: More than 150 people were killed in a huge cyclone that hit Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Hundreds more were missing, and tens of thousands of others were stranded in mainly poor, rural areas, officials said.