The block on Medium isn't a huge surprise. The platform originally started as a quick and easy blogging tool, but in recent months it has become a bigger source for news, both from established publishers like The Awl and The Ringer (led by Bill Simmons) as well as plenty of independent journalists. Medium is also working on monetization efforts, with plans to launch native advertising from companies like Bose, Nest and Intel.

All that is to say that as Medium's importance in disseminating information grows, it was perhaps inevitable that the site would catch the attention of China's censors. Medium now joins a list of massively important internet sites and services including basically all of Google, Twitter, Dropbox, YouTube and Facebook as well as any non-state news media.