Coronavirus: China tightens social media censorship amid outbreak

Tan KW

Publish date: Fri, 07 Feb 2020, 02:03 PM

China’s Internet watchdog is tightening controls on social media platforms after a brief period of tolerance, as it cracks down on content that may sow fear and confusion amid the coronavirus crisis.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a statement released late on Feb 5 that it has set up supervision on platforms that include those run by microblogging service provider Sina Weibo, short video and news apps operator ByteDance, and Tencent Holdings, which owns the ubiquitous multipurpose app WeChat.

The regulator said it required Internet platforms and local authorities to “create a good cyberspace environment to win the battle against the [coronavirus] epidemic”.

Baidu, operator of China’s dominant online search service, has been summoned to rectify what the CAC described as lenient management on illegal information posted by its users, according to the statement.

The watchdog said it has also removed a social app called Pipi Gaoxiao from app stores for “posting harmful videos, and spreading fear and panic” about the coronavirus outbreak, as well as taken down some media and blogger accounts for fake news.

Representatives from Sina Weibo and ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Tencent and Baidu declined to comment.

The CAC’s move comes as the coronavirus outbreak has caused 563 deaths, surpassing the number of fatalities during the Sars epidemic in 2003, and 28,018 confirmed cases in mainland China, according to data released on Thursday morning by national and provincial health authorities.

The social media clampdown followed a directive on Monday from President Xi Jinping, who said the government needed to step up propaganda and strengthen online media control to maintain social stability amid the coronavirus crisis, according to a report from state news agency Xinhua.

Chinese Internet users had enjoyed a rare opportunity for online criticism in the early days of the health crisis, when they vented their anger on social media at government officials in Hubei - the province in central China at the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic - for their poor efforts in stopping the outbreak.

People on WeChat, known as Weixin in mainland China where it has more than 1 billion users, have reported that personal accounts have been shut down in the past several days. “WeChat account shutdowns” became a trending topic on Twitter-like platform Weibo before the discussion page was removed late on Wednesday.

“I’m confident that I did not circulate any illegal information ... Is there a way to save [my WeChat account]?” a car blogger named “Van Youyinli”, with more than 42,000 followers, had asked on Weibo. The blogger showed screenshots of his personal WeChat account being permanently blocked for “spreading vicious rumours”.

On Feb 6, Chinese social network Douban disabled its Diary feature that has served as a platform for some users to chronicle life under quarantine and lockdown.

Certain news of the coronavirus crisis, including a report by Chinese finance media Caijing about undocumented infection cases in Hubei’s capital Wuhan, have either been blocked or removed from social media platforms.

State-run news media and commercial news outlets have been told to focus on positive stories about virus relief efforts, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing anonymous sources.

- SCMP

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