China to force social media users to declare their real names
Mainland regulators say people will be able to have nicknames - they will just have to register them with website administrators first
Online real-name registration will be ramped up on the mainland this year to cover instant messaging services, Twitter-like microblogs, online forums and other websites as the Communist Party continues to tighten its grip on cyberspace.
The Cyberspace Administration did not give details on how the plan would be carried out, but administration official Xu Feng said yesterday the agency would "comprehensively" implement the rule and "beef up" oversight to punish violators.
Xu said website users would still be allowed to use a nickname online, but they would have to register their real identities with website administrators.
Real-name registration would also apply to open online forums called tieba, Xu said, without elaborating.
Authorities have in the past ordered users to register with their real names for some services, but the rules were not always followed.
In Beijing, for example, all users of social media platforms operated in the capital, including the Sina Weibo microblog service, were supposed to register their names and identity numbers in 2011 as part of a push to rein in online rumour-mongering and "cleanse" content.
But a year later it was still possible to use the Sina service without doing so.