China coup rumours trigger web crackdown

10 Apr 12 | China, Digital Freedom

It has emerged that the Chinese government has closed 16 websites and detained six people for “fabricating or disseminating online rumours” in recent weeks.

On 19 March, rumours began spreading on Chinese microblogs that claimed “military vehicles” had entered Beijing, and that the Chinese capital was the centre of a coup attempt.

The rumours focus on internal political upheaval: the sacking of Bo Xilai, the popular former Chongqing Communist Party chief. Rumours began to spread after his deputy and police head Wang Lijun sought political asylum at the American Embassy.

Xinhua reports that the closed websites included meizhou.net, xn528.com and cndy.com.cn. These small websites do not affect everyday life in China, but then on the morning of 31 March, users of the country’s most popular microblog, Sina Weibo, woke up to find that they could not comment on any posts. Users of another large microblog, Tencent’s t.qq.com faced the same issues.

And on Friday 7 April, a well-known Maoist website, Utopia, was closed down along several other less well-known leftist websites.

China’s latest censorship tactics underscore Beijing’s nervousness ahead of the leadership transition later this year, with Bo’s ousting also giving rise to speculation about top-level infighting. Combined, these two factors are making China’s leaders all the more anxious about online discussion.

Having microblog comments shut off riled netizens. Sina put up the following notice:

Weibo users:

Lately there have been a lot of unlawful and harmful content appearing in the comments section of microblogs, so from 8AM on March 31 to 8AM on April 3 our comment function will be suspended temporarily. After we have finished this round of regulation, we will re-open it again.

Han Han, China’s foremost blogger and a recent Index on Censorship award nominee, chose the second day of this three-day shutdown period to speak up. He wrote:

Flowers lose their petals in the winter, and then bloom again in spring. Some people go, some people come.

The oblique post attracted hundreds of thousands of reposts.

After commenting had been restored, users such media worker Vic speculated rote on Sina that the microblogs censors were working overtime:

Ever since microblog commenting had been restored, the moderating at Sina is obviously stronger than it had been. They have over the last couple of days set a string of posts by me under the category “only seen by me.” Little Secretary [the nickname for web censors on the microblog], you’ve worked hard!

One of the replies to Vic’s post was by Linglingfa, the head of technology at internet web forum giant Maopu. He said:

I know everyone needs at least two accounts: one for normal use, and the other to monitor whether we can use the other one normally [i.e. what gets taken down and what doesn’t]… I now understand what a great way this is for Sina to expand the number of registered users!

On the morning of 7 April, commenting on the microblogs had already returned for a couple of days, and most people were buzzing about the loss of Utopia. The Guardian reported that the leftist website was shut down because of its support of “Red” messages such as those espoused by Bo Xilai, who had initiated new classes studying the works of Mao. After reportedly being told to close for a month, the website put up a notice that said:

Our staff asked for a list of articles that they thought violated the constitution and said we would certainly co-operate and deal with these problems. They did not have any specific articles or evidence. In the end, the conversation was cut short and rudely ended.

On the Sina microblog, a link to a Tianya post that had the following statement written by a fan of the website was re-posted over 60 times. The fan had in part written:

I heard that when it started, Utopia was a last effort to restore the glory days of the Cultural Revolution, but I never saw this myself. Naturally, they posted stuff, sang Red Songs, gave speeches, went travelling, and deleted those with a different view to them, burnt some magazines that have different views, destroyed lecture venues. Though some believed in it, no-one thought it would come to this.

China: Ai Weiwei says censors removed his microblog

19 Mar 12 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, minipost

A crack in China’s firewall allowed dissident artist Ai Wei Wei to use a Twitter-like social media account for a short time on Sunday, before it shortly became inaccessible. The dissident artist was able to use micro-blogging platform Sina Weibo after discovering that his name was no longer blocked. Ai said his account was deleted shortly after midnight on Monday, and was replaced with a message that read: “Error. Invalid Weibo user”. During the short time the artist’s account was active, he attracted over 10,000 followers. New regulations which require Beijing-based microbloggers to declare their real names went into effect on Friday.

China: Fears of censorship of Diablo 3

23 Sep 11 | Index Index, minipost

Video game fans awaiting the release of Diablo 3 in China fear that the game will be heavily censored. Amid reports that the game has entered the beta-testing phase, rumours that it is quite bloody are making Chinese fans nervous that they will face a toned-down version, as they did with World of Warcraft. The Chinese version of World of Warcraft, made by Blizzard the same company as Diablo, was changed. Gamers took to Weibo with comments such as “#Diablo3# We’re not asking for much, just to play the goddamn original version, as long as it’s not censored it’s fine…”

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.