China to introduce new social media regulations
New Chinese cyber censoring regulations come into effect today. They allow Beijing’s cyber watchdog, the Cybersecurity Administration of China (CAC), to impose further restrictions on over one billion social media users in China.
The new rules come after the country’s largest online media firms were fined by the CAC for failing to satisfactorily censor their users for illegal content under a landmark new cyber-security law that came into effect in June. The new law prohibits companies from disseminating “personal” and “important” information overseas. Presumably, this means data that contradicts official government economic and health statistics, as well as other social and politically sensitive information.
Today’s regulations mean messenger app users will be subject to “credit scores”. Offending users will have their scores lowered, and recidivists will face legal action. Social media companies are expected to enforce the measures by actively censoring content deemed illegal.
The crackdown on social media users tightens Beijing’s hold on cyberspace by seeking to control data that may affect investor confidence; however, the higher compliance obligations placed on companies may have the opposite effect.
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