China fines Tencent, Baidu and Weibo over banned contents in ongoing crackdown
The latest punishment comes amid Beijing moves to tighten control over online discussions ahead of next month’s Communist Party congress
China’s largest online social networks need to hone their balancing skills between engaging users and policing content to avoid the wrath of internet regulators which this week slapped Tencent Holdings, Baidu and Weibo with the maximum fines allowed under new cybersecurity laws, say analysts.
The impact of the penalties were immediate.
Tencent shares dropped as much as 3.8 per cent in Hong Kong on Tuesday, before closing 1.17 per cent down, after the Guangdong cyberspace authority meted out the “highest fine” for failing to supervise its WeChat platform – China’s largest social tool with more than 900 million users, as required by law, according to a statement on the authority’s WeChat account on Monday.
The statement came at the same time as the Beijing cyberspace office imposed the “highest fine” on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, and a “heavy fine” on Baidu Tieba, an online forum service, for allowing their users to post banned contents, including pornographic and ethnic hatred contents.
US-traded shares of Weibo and Baidu subsequently dropped 4.48 per cent and 2.53 per cent respectively on Monday.
