China's Cyberspace Administration has updated its guidelines for controlling online comments.
- The initial CAC rules were established in 2017.
- The action is being taken as China attempts to tighten Internet policing.
- Platforms are obligated by new regulations to take action against 'illegal or harmful content.'
China's cyberspace regulator announced on Wednesday that it would update the laws requiring owners of social media and online accounts to more closely monitor and control the comments made on their pages.
Account operators should set up and enhance their procedures to review comments, according to a statement from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), and be prepared to submit unfavourable and unlawful content to the regulator.
The statement states that in addition to determining the legitimacy of the account users posting the follow-up remarks, fairly establishing management rights, and providing technical help are also essential.
In a June proposal, CAC urged platforms to take action against users of public accounts who post 'illegal or poor content,' such as by issuing warnings or removing their posts, and to promptly report such events to the regulator. The initial regulations were created in 2017.
The announcement comes as Chinese authorities are increasingly regulating the internet and the subjects that the general public is permitted to talk about. WeChat and Weibo are two examples of social media sites that frequently delete or block posts and comments. It was stated that the new rules would go into effect on December 15.
The cyberspace regulator announced earlier this year that rules requiring security reviews of data exports would go into effect on September 1. This was the first time the regulator had given a start date for a new regulatory framework that would impact hundreds, if not thousands, of Chinese companies.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) also finalised and released the specifics of a new mandatory security assessment that would be used to determine whether sizable amounts of Chinese user data held by a private entity could be sent abroad, as it had previously announced in a statement on its official WeChat account.