China's top court puts tighter grip on internet and social media

The Supreme People's Court has announced tighter controls to help the authorities identify people commenting on the internet and social media.

The court announced yesterday that from tomorrow the authorities could order internet service providers and social media platforms to provide the personal information of users to help trace them.

The court said it had been working on legal guidelines for two years and the aim was to identify "rumour-mongers" .

Yao Hui, a senior official at the Supreme People's Court, said people who broke the law on the internet were often hiding in the shadows and were therefore difficult for prosecution to track down.

Internet and social media providers can also be ordered to hand over users' personal information to civil courts handling cases seeking damages.

Yao said organisations that forwarded information on social media were also responsible for its content.

People with large followings on social media also had more influence and with it greater legal responsibility for their comments, Yao added.

The number of posts on microblogs dropped significantly last year after a nationwide campaign against so-called rumour-mongers.

Hundreds were detained on charges of "inciting trouble" for posting unverified or critical information on their microblogs.

Civil rights activists and international human rights organisations say the government tries to keep a tight grip on all forms of media on the mainland, but is increasingly focusing on social media.

Supreme People's Court spokesman Sun Jungong said yesterday that the rapid growth and development of social media platforms such as Weibo and WeChat meant they could influence the public far more than traditional media.

The new guidelines also promise action against people or companies who delete or tamper with content on social media that they want to censor.

People distorting information will be punished and any deleted or altered posts will be reposted in their original form.

Sun said this form of censorship by people with superior computing skills had become a "grey industry".