The third World Internet Conference started in the eastern Chinese city of Wuzhen on Wednesday amid a global outcry over China's growing internet censorship. The three-day summit will bring together top executives from global tech companies to discuss the future of the digital world and its impact on human lives.

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The conference was opened with a short video message by President Xi Jinping, who was also the main speaker at the conference last year.  

"China will work together with the international community to ensure the common well-being of humanity, uphold cyber sovereignty, promote more fair and equitable global internet governance and bring about an open, inclusive and secure cyberspace," Xi said.

The three-day conference would witness intense discussion on a host of issues about the internet and web world. This year's conference includes 16 forums covering issues like cyber terrorism and internet governance, internet innovation, and internet culture.

Apart from panel discussions, the visitors will get to witness some exciting innovations by leading tech companies. The much-anticipated driverless car by tech giant Baidu would also take center stage during the three-day summit.

Although World Internet Conference is an initiative by the Chinese government, it has assumed global importance in a very short span of time. In its third year running, the summit has attracted some of the best tech companies like Microsoft, IBM, Alibaba, and Tencent.

However, the mood at this year's conference was dampened as the Chinese government has stepped up Internet censorship in recent months. The government has passed laws and issued circular to get a firm grip over live streaming, online TV shows as well as pornographic activities on the Internet.

Internet censorship became thorny issue for China especially after American tech giant Google decided to shut its operation in 2010, citing strict censorship as the reason. Another tech giant that has been conspicuous absent in China's Internet market is Facebook.

Expert claim that China is too big a market and these global tech companies cannot afford to keep brooding over censorship laws.  

TagsThird World Internet Conference, china, China Internet Censorship, China Internet Market, Internet