Chinese Authorities Crack Down on SNS
Experts Say "Will Cool Entrepreneurial Spirit and Innovation"
Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized that the Party must exercise greater leadership over cyberspace, including social networking services (SNS). Relevant authorities, currently conducting a campaign to eradicate online rumors, have increased regulatory measures by punishing 373 accounts.
According to local media such as China's Xinhua News Agency on the 16th, President Xi Jinping stated at the national meeting on cybersecurity and informatization work held in Beijing over two days starting the previous day, "The Party must lead cyberspace work and develop it for the people."
He stressed, "We must thoroughly implement the guidelines of the Party Central Committee and vigorously promote high-quality development of cybersecurity and informatization work," adding, "We must coordinate development and security and promote the building of a community with a shared future in cyberspace." He also explained, "Without guaranteed cybersecurity, national security cannot be safeguarded," and "Without promoting the application of information technology (IT), modernization cannot be realized."
China's public security and cybersecurity authorities have been conducting an online rumor eradication campaign from the 15th to the 21st. So far, 373 accounts have been punished on suspicion of spreading false information related to the Chinese stock market or social security policies. Accounts on major platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, and Xueqiu are reportedly included.
Since 1994, China has promulgated more than 140 laws related to cyberspace and has built a legislative framework for cyberspace. In particular, in March, it released a white paper titled "Cyber Governance Based on the Rule of Law in China in the New Era," emphasizing the need to be vigilant against so-called network ideology.
Zhou Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center at China University of Political Science and Law, told the state-run Global Times (GT), "Ideological security is a prerequisite for national security and national stability," diagnosing, "The recent riots in France are an example, and social media platforms can incite young people to participate in riots."
In this regard, Rana Mitter, professor of history and modern China at the University of Oxford in the UK, told the Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP), "Many countries leave the regulation of social media to the hands of users," and evaluated, "In China, the motivation and driving force come top-down from the Party."
Professor Mitter pointed out, "The goal of China's cyber censorship is to ensure the continued operation of the Communist Party's strong ideological control," adding, "The boundaries regarding the increasingly sensitive security issues are not clearly drawn, and the problem is that this will cool entrepreneurial spirit and the atmosphere of innovation."
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