Always read the comments: Beijing requires oversight of all reader-generated chat
- Reference: 1655688549
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/06/20/china_internet_comment_censorship_policy/
- Source link:
Outlined in a [1]document published last Friday and titled "Provisions on the Administration of Internet Thread Commenting Services", the policy is aimed at making China's internet safer, and better represent citizens' interests. The Administration believes this can only happen if comments are reviewed so that only posts that promote socialist values and do not stir dissent make it online.
To stop the nasties being published, the policy outlines requirements for publishers to hire "a review and editing team suitable for the scale of services".
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Those teams will be required to review each and every comment before it is published, and – if they detect "illegal and bad information" – report it to the Administration.
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Another requirement calls for the improvement of complaint mechanisms, so that members of the public can also report comments they feel deserve attention from the review and edit teams.
The document further requires sites that offer comments to collect and verify account holders' real names – suggesting that actual real-world consequences may follow posting comments that Beijing opposes.
[5]Children of China, your state-sanctioned hour of gaming begins … now!
[6]FCC: Applications for funds to replace Chinese comms kit lack evidence
[7]China's latest online crackdown targets mean girl online fan clubs that turn toxic
The guidelines appeared after China's censors clamped down on comment critical of government conduct during recent COVID-19 lockdowns in the nation's big cities. Those lockdowns restricted most movement for weeks at a time and saw often modest food parcels distributed to residents. The length and severity of the lockdowns saw many citizens complain online. Lockdowns also saw some citizens forcibly moved to field hospitals, and some pets killed.
Young Chinese, meanwhile, have rallied around a concept of being China's "last generation" – a phrase that expresses frustration with China's zero-COVID stance and the lockdowns it creates, as well as the high cost of living that many regard as making it impossible to start a family or buy a home.
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Another celebrated recent act of government intervention saw Austin Li – a prominent, popular and prolific host of live streamed advertorials who achieved celebrity status – taken offline after depicting a cake shaped like a tank the day before the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.
China's government has attempted to erase the events of June 4, 1989, from history. Li surely knew he was tempting fate with even an oblique reference to the fact that China's government used tanks and troops to suppress and kill protestors on that day.
Now every Chinese netizen has been reminded that they have good reason to remain silent on myriad topics. ®
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[1] http://www.cac.gov.cn/2022-06/17/c_1657089000974111.htm
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Yq-w5@un4NJ34-xzFY-eUAAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yq-w5@un4NJ34-xzFY-eUAAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Yq-w5@un4NJ34-xzFY-eUAAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/31/china_limits_kids_gaming_time/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/16/fcc_says_applications_for_cash/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/16/china_cyberbullying_fan_quan_crackdown/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yq-w5@un4NJ34-xzFY-eUAAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: That would be a huge change
I agree, it would kill the free flow of conversations in a natural, face-to-face style where one person's comments tend to spark creative tangents that often lead to new & interesting concepts, products, or services. Like two people talking about types of butter & winding up bringing to market a new & innovative way to produce inexpensive & tastier/healthier grapes. What do grapes have to do with butter? Nothing, but their train of thought derailed so hard that they came up with something along those lines.
You can't get that same creative-idea-generating, concepts molding like clay, bouncing ideas off each other until you wind up brainstorming The Next Big Thing, if every single post has to be cleared, vetted, & posted through an editorial team. Especially if that team is also the government censors doing their best to stomp a jackbooted foot down on anything that *might* be subversive.
"We're sorry, that topic is Not Allowed. You will be reported for being a subversive."
WTF? I was talking about making buttered popcorn & sharing it with my girlfriend at the movies. How is that subversive?
"We're not allowed to tell you that. Asking about it is subversion. You will be reported."
At which point "The Last Generation" folks will have the last laugh. You won't HAVE anyone to bully about if your population falls so low as to be unable to support itself, much less all those elderly Powers That Be that need medical help for their infirmaties. Need someone to change your folley bag? Too bad, there's nobody left willing to help you; they're too busy starving to death in a nation that can't feed itself because all the "youngsters" are over 50 & in need of medical help themselves.
TL;DR: China: The Totalitarian Guide to shooting yourself in the foot.
Re: That would be a huge change
I've seen sites that went to moderated content have their forums completely die
I'm feeling the Chinese gov't doesn't think that's actually a bad thing.
Not a good future
I've experienced heavily moderated forums run by cellphone and appliance makers. Eventually you only see the opinions of moderators who've become so drunk on their power that they become trolls. Samsung is the worst - every approved answer is pure misinformation and anyone supplying actual evidence has their account locked. I've banished Samsung products from my life just as they've banished me from their web site.
What's China's desired end result? I don't see this working. It's going to product a lot of crazies for sure.
Re: Not a good future
Had a similar experience with Apple also when asking about an intermittent display fault. No Apple stores within hundreds of miles of where I live, phone support was hopeless and an attempt with an authorized agent (also in another town) resulted in no fix but also no usable laptop for two weeks. Post on Apple forums with questions and a bit of a frustrated (but not rude) comment about the difficult accessing service. Result: one response miles off topic form a forum regular before the thread got removed by a moderator. Really leaves one high and dry.
Footnote: I did eventually get Apple to properly fix the issue at no cost to myself, but after endless hours of phone calls and a total period of a month without the laptop.
Too risky
Who would dare run a forum this way? If you approve some comment that later gets reported, there will be two heads on the block.
That would be a huge change
Moderated forums that require approval of all posts are terrible for free flowing conversation. You post something and it may take hours for it to be approved, and it along with a bunch of others hits the site in a batch. The turnaround time from when you post to seeing what others have posted and you can respond would be hours unless a site was big enough to have full time moderation staff - and even then are probably not going to be 24x7 except for the massive ones like Weibo.
I've seen sites that went to moderated content have their forums completely die. It killed the immediacy and back and forth that made it fun, it was easier for everyone to just move on elsewhere.