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Censorship
TechTech Trends

China plans to review every single social media comment, sparking more censorship fears

  • China’s internet watchdog has proposed that social platforms review all user comments before publishing
  • The draft also proposes for the first time that the person who uploads a post is also responsible for the comments made by others

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China’s internet watchdog proposes a regulation that would require online platforms to review all user comments before they are published. Photo: Shutterstock
Jiaxing Li

China’s internet users have expressed concerns that the limited space for free speech in the country will be further eroded if a proposed regulation that requires internet platforms to review every social media comment is passed.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country’s internet watchdog, on Friday published the draft rules, which direct platforms to hire a content moderation team, “commensurate with the scale of the service”, to review all user comments and filter out “harmful” ones before publishing.
All types of comments – including original posts, replies and real-time comments that appear on top of a video, known as “bullet chats” – fall under the requirements.

Authorities are soliciting public feedback on the proposal until July 1, but it has already fanned concerns that the regulation would add to the cost of operations for Chinese tech companies and further restrict what internet users can post online.

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How China censors the internet

How China censors the internet

The draft rule is an update to the existing censorship mechanism in online content regulations, and it is likely designed to strengthen the review for comments, although it will not be able to immediately catch all offending comments, according to Vincent Brussee, an analyst at the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies.

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