Hegemony and internet censorship

The concept of hegemony and the need to maintain it in order to maintain it explains the actions of China and its censorship of the internet.
 Hegemony is the ability of the upper elements in society to keep power over the lower elements. Hegemony is basically the amount of control the rulers have over the ruled. It is especially important if the rulers wish to implement policies that do not benefit the majority and instead only benefit the ruling class. The better control the upper class has over media, the better the hegemony, and the easier it is to maintain. Once hegemony takes effect, it must be maintained, otherwise it will be refuted, and in time, will cease to function. In today's world with the ability of the internet to reach many more people, much tighter control over the media is required.
A good example of of tight control is the argument between Google and China over internet censorship. China puts fairly strict control over the content its citizens can access, which Google disagreed with. With a bit of thought it is not hard to realize why China censors its citizen's internet access. The status quo in China benefits the upper class of China at the expense of the majority of the population. The only way the current situation is allowed to continue is because of the upper classes hegemonic control over the lower classes. Free and unrestricted access to the internet would show the lower class a better life and help wear and eventually destroy the hegemony of the ruling class of China and lead to a situation much less beneficial to them. So this why they wish to censor the internet, to maintain an unequal status quo. This is a very obvious example of hegemony and the need to maintain it.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8582233.stm