China's top court puts tighter grip on internet and social media

The Supreme People's Court has announced tighter controls to help the authorities identify people commenting on the internet and social media.

The court announced yesterday that from tomorrow the authorities could order internet service providers and social media platforms to provide the personal information of users to help trace them.

The court said it had been working on legal guidelines for two years and the aim was to identify "rumour-mongers" .

Yao Hui, a senior official at the Supreme People's Court, said people who broke the law on the internet were often hiding in the shadows and were therefore difficult for prosecution to track down.

Internet and social media providers can also be ordered to hand over users' personal information to civil courts handling cases seeking damages.

Yao said organisations that forwarded information on social media were also responsible for its content.

People with large followings on social media also had more influence and with it greater legal responsibility for their comments, Yao added.