China to continue with its carrot and stick approach to Big Tech regulation, cyber watchdog says
- The tone of CAC’s remarks suggests strict regulation in place since 2020 on online platforms and Big Tech will continue
- CAC also criticised US trade sanctions on leading Chinese tech companies at press event on Monday
Beijing will stick to the concept of “development and regulation in parallel” for internet platform operators, an official from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said at a press conference on Monday.
The tone of the comments confirmed that the strict regulation in place since 2020 on online platforms including e-commerce sites, social media and short video operators will continue.
“It is our important duty to encourage and support the healthy and sustainable development of internet platform enterprises,”said Wang Song, head of CAC’s information development division.
“We carry out daily supervision of the behaviour of internet platform enterprises in accordance with the law, and if there is outstanding chaos there, we will also take special management action to ‘clear’ [cyberspace].”
The CAC has in recent years established itself as an authority over the veracity of online information. It has conducted several rounds of online campaigns, under the name of “clearance”, to review and crack down on online content that the state deems harmful or inappropriate.