Poynter Online notes that China's most recent internet growth figures, while still impressive, slowed radically over the last year. After a period of year-on-year doubling of internet usage, China's web population grew by only 18 percent in 2004, to 94 million users. Poynter speculates that it might be because big city internet penetration has already reached high levels, and the countryside will be very slow to follow. Another reason may be increased monitoring and scrutiny of internet usage, including the closing down of thousands of internet cafes.