The CPC Central Internet Information Office issued a notice this Sunday (Jan. 31) announcing that it will “focus on regulating” self-publishing media, requiring them to obtain a “license” before publishing Internet news and information services, and to implement “first-tested and then issued” for live news and information and its interactive content. “management.
Xinhua News Agency reported that on the 31st, the Central Internet Information Office to study the deployment of the whole platform to regulate the order of network communication, will focus on rectifying the “self media”, hot list, PUSH pop-ups, short video, referring to these platforms disrupt the order of network communication. Zhuang Rongwen, vice minister of the Central Propaganda Department and director of the Central Internet Information Office, said that no matter what the nature of the platform, no matter what form of communication, we must adhere to the correct political direction, public opinion guidance and value orientation in the first place. He also said that the standard management of “self media” as a prominent task, increase the disposal and punishment of illegal accounts and platforms, to ensure full coverage of standard management, no dead ends.
John, a church pastor in Qingdao, Shandong province, said in an interview with Radio Free Asia on Tuesday (Feb. 2) that the authorities’ control over Internet speech also includes religious texts on the Internet: “We have discussed this news before, and the rumors say that there will be a complete overhaul of the self-publishing media, current affairs and politics, commentary, and also religious content, which shows that the official is tightening the discourse of the self-publishing media. . This will definitely further compress freedom of expression and the voices of the bottom of society will not be reflected in a timely manner.”
News and information licenses stifle the flow of information
Some websites of self-publishing media disclosed last Wednesday that platforms such as WeChat Public, Sohu and Baijia have recently issued notices requiring accounts that have not obtained “Internet News and Information Service Licenses” not to publish, or advising against publishing, news of current affairs.
The notice reads that public accounts providing Internet news and information services to the public should obtain an “Internet News and Information Service License” and other relevant media qualifications. It also says, “If your account does not have the relevant qualifications, it is recommended not to pick and publish, commentary interpretation of political, economic, military, diplomatic fields and major emergencies and other related information content, to avoid violating relevant laws and regulations and platform operating norms, causing inconvenience to subsequent creative releases.”
Fang Liang, a scholar in Taiyuan, Shanxi, told the station that the authorities’ so-called management of the Internet is control. The ultimate control of China’s Internet speech is already in the hands of the Central Propaganda Department: “He gradually controls the channels through which the public can get news, and objectively controls the public’s right to comment on public affairs and share information. The public can only get information from official channels in one direction. The people can also only listen to the arrangements in one direction.”
Fifteen years ago, China first introduced the Regulations on the Administration of Internet News and Information Services, which regulated mainly traditional news portals. But three years ago, officials made amendments to the Administrative Regulations on Internet News and Information Services, specifying for the first Time that new media such as apps, forums, weblogs, microblogs, WeChat public numbers, instant messengers and webcasts that provide Internet news and information services must also first obtain an Internet news and information service license. The above regulations have been officially implemented recently.
According to Chinese self-media sources, all WeChat public numbers have recently received a notice from WeChat that they are not allowed to publish unvetted live news information without authorization in the future.
Social injustice fears difficult to disclose
Scholar Fang Liang said that not long ago, the secretary of Henan Jiyuan municipal party committee beat the secretary-general of the municipal government and other news released through the self-media, similar events will be difficult to publicize later: “We see that the management of various fields, including the management of the network, is towards this deprivation of the rights of the people, more to give the official control of the people’s rights and come. For example, in the case of the secretary-general slapping the secretary-general, the authorities have learned their lesson and will not allow public figures to publish such information anymore.”
In the last decade, China’s traditional news media have been banned from publishing stories that expose corrupt practices, local environmental pollution and other news reflecting social ills, and in the last two years, commentary by self-publishers has been restricted, as people see the government gradually tightening the space for speech. Many fear the day when they will not be able to talk about current affairs topics online.
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