China internet crackdown: ByteDance, Alibaba platforms fined; harmful content cited
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said on Monday it would crack down on material that fuels “malicious incitement of conflict” or encourages “negative outlooks on life such as world-weariness”.Authorities in Beijing already require social media firms to heavily police their platforms, keeping out anything they judge subversive, pornographic, vulgar or otherwise damaging.This month, the CAC had already penalised three well-known sites, Weibo, Kuaishou and Xiaohongshu, for what it called poor oversight of content.
The regulator has not disclosed what punishment they faced.Toutiao, the news app came under fire for allowing “harmful content” to appear on the main page of its trending searches.
The CAC said the company had failed in its duty to manage information properly and in doing so had “damaged the online ecosystem”.
Actions taken against the firm include “summoning the company for a meeting, ordering rectification within a specified time limit, issuing a warning, and strictly dealing with those responsible”. No further details were released.“Internet regulators will continue to focus on prominent illegal and non-compliant activities that undermine the online ecosystem,” the CAC said in its statement cited by AFP.Alibaba’s UCWeb also faces sanctions.
The CAC accused the browser service of posting entries linked to “extremely sensitive and malicious” issues, citing subjects such as “online violence and the privacy of minors”.The two-month campaign, launched on Monday, will target a wide range of online behaviour.
The regulator said the drive is designed “to regulate the malicious incitement of conflict and the promotion of violence and vicious currents”.
It also wants to stamp out attempts to exploit trending events by “forcibly associate identity, region or gender with other information, stigmatising and hyping them.”
