In addition, internet regulators will bar social media accounts from using false or similar account names to impersonate government institutions, official media organisations and known industry experts, especially in education, law and healthcare.
The CAC has called on internet platform operators to take primary responsibility for bolstering content oversight. It also urged this sector to adopt innovative approaches that address “deep-rooted problems” on social media, while maintaining a “healthy and orderly” dissemination of information online.
The latest campaign forms part of a series of Qinglang activities to clean up the country’s internet, which the CAC has conducted since 2016.
The headquarters of the Cyberspace Administration of China in Beijing. Photo: Baidu
The series of campaigns reflects Beijing’s intention to keep Chinese internet services operators under close scrutiny, while directing them to root out content that fails to fit the values that the government endorses.
The CAC earlier this months said it removed more than 1.19 million pieces of what it considered as harmful information online and banned more than 160,000 online accounts and groups. Last year, the internet watchdog removed a total of 54.3 million pieces of illegal or harmful content and 420 apps, including 106 that provided live-streaming and short video services.
