The rule would have required manufacturers to include filtering software known as Green Dam with every computer produced for sale in China starting Wednesday.
A two-sentence announcement by the government's Xinhua News Agency said regulators “will delay" the plan but gave no indication whether it might take effect later. It gave no other details.
Top U.S. trade officials protested the plan as a possible trade barrier. Industry groups warned that the software might cause security problems. Free-speech advocates attacked the plan as censorship.
American diplomats met earlier with Chinese officials to express concern about the plan.
Chinese authorities said Green Dam is needed to shield children from violent and obscene material online. But analysts who have reviewed the program say it also contains code to filter out material the government considers politically objectionable.
Chinese Web surfers ridiculed the software and circulated petitions online appealing to Beijing to scrap its order. They said Green Dam would block access to photos of animals and other innocuous subjects.
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