'Virtual police' programme will cover 8 more cities
The Ministry of Public Security will spread its internet patrol programme to eight more cities next month after a trial launch in Shenzhen early this year.
The programme comes after numerous attempts this year to tighten control over online content, including a pledge of self-censorship by 43 Beijing websites, which resulted in the closure of more than 200 chat rooms and deletion of 1.5 million online comments in April.
At a meeting on internet administration attended by all levels of police, the ministry announced that the 'virtual police' system would be launched next month.
The meeting, which ended in Beijing on Saturday, was told the cities covered by the system would be Chongqing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Qingdao, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu , Xinhua reported.
On Shenzhen websites, 'Jingjing' and 'Chacha' - two cartoon images representing police officers on patrol - are pasted beside chat room entrances. Police say the images work both as a warning not to violate the law and as a way for internet users to report crime.
There are also 'information security guards' based within chat rooms to ensure that 'false', radical and uncivilised statements are deleted. Following the introduction of the system, 'harmful' online information fell 60 per cent over the first four months of the year, according to the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau.
