China calls for crackdown on Internet rumours

01 Sep 11 | Asia and Pacific, China, Digital Freedom

After two recent incidents where a fury of online public criticism has shown the robust power of microblogging in spreading information, the Chinese government has begun laying the groundwork for tightening control of the internet.

This week, state-owned news agency Xinhua urged a crackdown on spreading rumours online using China’s massively popular social networking platforms.

“Concocting rumours is itself a social malady, and the spread of rumours across the internet presents a massive social threat,” the agency said.

To the Chinese government, “rumours” include truths which are anti-authority or anything which challenges the legitimacy of the Communist Party or threatens social stability.

Xinhua also called for “stronger internet administration” by microblogging services. In other words: more censorship.

These latest comments from Xinhua are nothing remarkable in themselves, but they are the latest in a series of ominous official warnings to microblogging services and users.

Last week, a Communist Party official visited the offices of Sina, which runs the most popular microblogging platform, Weibo, and warned that efforts must be made to block the spread of “harmful information.” Sino also suspended some accounts for spreading “rumours” last week.

In a separate development, China’s State Information Office this week closed down several thousand websites for engaging in illegal public relations deals. While eyebrows were raised at the move, state-run newspaper China Daily claimed it was part of a campaign against bad PR practices.

The Global Times, a state-owned, English-language tabloid, ran a guarded editorial two days ago, singing the praises of Weibo as a “watershed mark for China’s media’s environment” but also decried its use as a vehicle for rumour-mongering. It warned:

Weibo reflects or amplifies the weakness of the real world. A rational atmosphere of conversation is still lacking, and a set of rules, which both ensure Weibo users’ freedom of expression and arouse their sense of responsibility, has not been established.

Microblogs have played a key role in spreading information and boosting public debate in China, which is home to a sophisticated censorship apparatus. This summer platforms were flooded with comments, independent reports and photographs criticising the handling of the deadly Wenzhou train crash. They were also used to spread news of protests in the northeastern port city of Dalian calling for the relocation of a factory making toxic chemicals.

Despite efforts by censors, many of the posts remained online for hours and days before they could be removed, simply because of their huge volume and the speed of posting. In both cases, the authorities apparently responded to netizens’ demands: an inquiry was held into the train crash and the factory was closed down.

The Chinese government now faces a difficult task: with almost half a billion web users, officials cannot simply censor microblogging services. Jeremy Goldkorn, the Beijing-based founder of Danwei, a website that analyses Chinese media, told the Wall Street Journal last week that it was unlikely the platforms would be shut down, as “the political costs of taking away such a popular service” would be too great. “But they could squeeze it to the point where it becomes far less interesting,” he added.