China’s internet watchdog to boost tip-offs to stamp out ‘illegal’ political content

Top internet regulator pledges to clean up politically related content, ‘safeguard’ security of online opinion
Regulators encourage internet users to report content deemed not in line with Beijing’s political or ideological norms

China’s internet censorship

Sylvie Zhuangin Beijing

Published: 7:00pm, 18 Apr 2023

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China’s top internet regulator has pledged to intensify its battle against “illegal” politically related content and tighten the country’s internet security through its system of tip-offs.

Tip-offs from the public are widely used on a range of China-based websites and social media to augment the country’s massive censorship apparatus.

“[We] must insist on politics as the highest command, and work hard on politically related tip-offs, and to improve our ability to inspect, analyse and carry out tip-off work from a political standpoint to effectively safeguard the security of online public opinion and ideologies,” read a summary of a meeting by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) on Monday, according to an article published by the office.

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The meeting was hosted by the head of the office, Zhuang Rongwen.

“[We] must pay equal attention to accepting tip-offs and effectively follow them up, step up regulations, strengthen the standardisation of the process, and strengthen the institution’s manpower,” the summary said.

Zhuang Rongwen, head of the Cyberspace Administration of China. Photo: Reuters

Chinese regulators have encouraged all internet users to report content deemed not in line with Beijing’s political or ideological norms.

According to the CAC’s illegal information reporting centre, an office tasked exclusively to handle reports on online content, internet users are encouraged to report on politically related content that includes attacks on the “two upholds” – party jargon that means everyone should “resolutely uphold” President Xi Jinping’s leadership and the Communist Party’s Central Committee.

Other types of information labelled by the centre as illegal include “historical nihilism”, a term Beijing coined to refer to any discussions or research that contradicts the party’s official version of history, which it views as a threat to its legitimacy.

Comments or content deemed to negate China’s traditional culture, the party’s revolutionary culture, and China’s “advanced socialist culture” are also undesirable, according to the centre’s website.

Other objectionable content includes slandering national heroes or martyrs, promoting cults, and violating national ethnic and religious policies.

During Monday’s meeting, representatives from some of the most popular social media platforms in China, such as Weibo – the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, Douyin – the Chinese version of TikTok, and WeChat also delivered remarks on digital communication, along with a handful of provincial internet regulators.

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As China tries to revive its post-pandemic economy, the CAC said the tip-offs system could also be used to handle reports of infringement involving businesses to protect the private sector.

Last month, the top internet regulator called for harnessing video content to target youth with “political education”.

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In February, state news agency Xinhua reported that Beijing would continue a campaign begun last year to “clean up” online content and undesirable information, with an emphasis on overseas media and citizen journalism.

The CAC was upgraded in 2014 amid Xi’s call to strengthen efforts on cybersecurity and security of ideology work. That same year, Xi founded the Communist Party’s leadership group on cybersecurity, a body he has chaired personally.