China blocks more than 8,000 social media accounts in latest ‘clean up’ campaign

Name: Why it took China’s home-grown C919 plane 15 years to start flying passengers
Uploaded: 2023-08-01T09:03:19.000Z
Duration: 2 min 34 s
Description: Why it took China’s home-grown C919 plane 15 years to start flying passengers

Internet censor is cracking down on false and misleading information about companies and entrepreneurs

Among the accounts shut down were several that had taken aim at the country’s home-grown passenger jet

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Nationalist voices have grown louder on Chinese social media in recent years, with some zeroing in on companies. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Xinlu Liang

Published: 5:03pm, 1 Aug 2023

China’s internet censor has blocked more than 8,000 social media accounts it says violated the rights of businesses, including “smearing” the country’s first domestically produced passenger jet.

The Cyberspace Administration of China is targeting the dissemination of false and misleading information about companies and entrepreneurs in its latest “clean up” campaign.

“Some accounts have been fabricating facts, spreading false news reports, maliciously associating negative industry information with certain companies or making up enterprise-related rumours under the disguise of ‘patriotism’,” the CAC said in a post on its WeChat account on Tuesday.

It did not give details but nationalist voices have grown louder on Chinese social media in recent years, with some zeroing in on companies. Blogger Sima Nan’s attack on Lenovo over its sale of state assets, high executive pay and foreign executives is one recent example.

The internet regulator said it had asked relevant websites and social media platforms – including WeChat, Weibo and Douyin – to take responsibility for content management, upgrade their censorship systems, handle complaints, and prevent the spread of rumours.

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Why it took China’s home-grown C919 plane 15 years to start flying passengers

It comes as Beijing is seeking to reassure the private sector after regulatory shocks and amid a slower than expected recovery from the pandemic. The government last month unveiled an action plan to support private firms, vowing to create a favourable environment for entrepreneurship.

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