China has announced
that users of blogs and chat rooms will be required to register their names
with operators and promise in writing that they will avoid challenging the
Communist political system, further tightening control over Internet use.
The announcement
follows what technology companies say are official efforts in recent weeks to
block virtual private networks that are used to circumvent China’s extensive
Internet filters. China has the world’s biggest population of Internet users
with 649 million people online, but increasing censorship has chilled the
popularity of social media.
Beijing has required
Internet companies since 2012 to obtain real names of some users. But
compliance was uneven and the rules failed to specify what services were
covered.
The latest
announcement extends that “real name” registration requirement to blogs,
microblog services such as the popular Sina Weibo, and website comment
sections. Such settings offer many Chinese their only opportunity to express
themselves in public in a society in which all media are controlled by the
ruling Communist Party.
The rules also
require Internet services for the first time to have users sign a contract that
includes a pledge to refrain from “illegal and unhealthy” activity.
The ruling party encourages
Internet use for business and education but tries to block material deemed
subversive or obscene. Beijing regularly launches new censorship initiatives to
respond to changes such as the growing popularity of social media.
The Cyberspace
Administration of China said the latest rules are needed to combat “username
chaos.” In a statement, the agency said users took inappropriate online names
such as Putin and Obama, promoted “vulgar culture,” committed fraud by
pretending to be Communist Party officials or agitated for separatist causes.
Operators will be
required to assign an employee to review and keep track of user details to
ensure they comply, the agency said.
The government of
President Xi Jinping has been calling on Internet companies since last year to
“spread positive energy” online.
In May, Sina Corp.,
which operates one of China’s most popular Internet platforms, said it was
penalised for allowing “unhealthy and indecent content” online. Sina was fined
$815,000 and stripped of two of its licenses for Internet publication and
online transmission of audio-visual programmes.
In a statement on its
own Sina Weibo microblog account, Sina said it “firmly supports” the new
measures. It posted instructions for users to alert censors to possible violators.
China operates the
world’s most extensive system of Internet monitoring and filters. It blocks
access to websites abroad run by human rights and other activists groups, as
well as popular services such as the Google search engine and Facebook.
Until recently, users
of virtual private network, or VPN, services were able to skirt those
restrictions to reach business tools operated by Google and other blocked
sites. But in recent weeks, some companies that operate VPNs, which encrypt
traffic to prevent censors from reading it, say tighter controls have disrupted
their services.
The government has
not confirmed it was responsible for the blockage. But an official of the
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, responding to a question about
it at a January 27 news conference, said, “harmful information should be
managed according to Chinese laws.”
Censorship also has
eroded the popularity of social media such as Sina Weibo, which freelance
journalists and independent commentators used to distribute news reports and
essays. The number of users has declined since Beijing tightened control in
2013 over how such services could be used.
The number of
microblog users as of the end of last year declined to 249 million, some 7.1
percent, or 32 million people, below 2013, according to a state—authorized
research body, the China Internet Network Information Center.
