2015-01-13
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A Chinese netizen uses Weibo, the Twitter-like microblogging service of Sina, in a rural village in southwest China’s Guizhou province, Dec. 15, 2012.
Imaginechina
China’s Internet regulator is to step up its enforcement of real-name registration rules across all Internet services by next year, after shuttering 50 websites at chat accounts for posting “illegal” content, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The Cyberspace Administration … closed a number of websites, channels, and WeChat accounts,” the administration said in a statement on its website.
A total 24 websites, nine channels, or columns, and 17 public WeChat accounts were shuttered because they had “published fake news or information relating to gambling and fraud, posted pornographic content, and issued unauthorized news items without being qualified to do so,” it said.
Two anti-corruption websites set up by petitioners with complaints over official wrongdoing, yunluncn.com and fanfulianzheng.net, were among those closed down.
The public WeChat accounts of the party’s anti-graft body, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), set up to receive tip-offs from the public, were also shut down, the statement said.
“The [administration] will this year further strengthen law enforcement and publish a regular blacklist of illegal sites, to safeguard the rights and interests of Internet users, and to maintain lawful Internet information and communication,” Cyberspace Administration spokesman Jiang Jun said in the statement.
He added: “We welcome enthusiastic tip-offs from all sectors of society and the general public,” he said.
Real-name registration
The administration said it would also strengthen its regulation of social media by forcing people to register for Twitter-like microblog accounts and smartphone chat apps with their real names.
Under the scheme, which the ruling Chinese Communist Party has been trying to enforce with varying degrees of success for several years, users may choose a nickname that is publicly visible, but must leave full personal details with the service provider to do so.
Online free speech advocate Wu Bin, known by his nickname Xiucai Jianghu, said the move was another attack on freedom of speech and personal privacy.
“The idea that the real-name system will contribute to a healthy Internet is just a high-sounding excuse to attack freedom of expression and personal privacy,” Wu said.
“Controls on freedom of speech are getting tighter and tighter, and I have direct experience of this situation, because they shut down my account on Sina Weibo every few days,” he said.
“They say there will be no corner to hide in as they control everyone and everything,” Wu said. “Things are going to get worse and worse.”
