Chinese Internet Firms Promise To Fight “Rumours” For Government
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Three of China’s largest Internet companies have vowed to end all “rumours” about the Chinese government from spreading online, claimed a report by Reuters on Tuesday, as the government continues to crack down on the web following widespread rumours of a coup.
Three of China’s largest Internet companies have vowed to end all “rumours” about the Chinese government from spreading online, claimed a report by Reuters on Tuesday, as the government continues to crack down on the web following widespread rumours of a coup.
Sina.com, Baidu.com, and qq.com, promised the government that they would work hand-in-hand with authorities in order to improve their self-management systems, which would enable them to better control the content that go on their sites.
Baidu also promised to delete all search engine results for the so-called rumours, while Sina, which operates the popular micro-blogging site Weibo.com, added that they would attempt to filter any blog content that may appear on the site before it gets published.
[quote]We “must shoulder social responsibility, strengthen supervision of harmful information and adopt effective measures,” said Chen Yidan, the chief administration officer of Tencent, which runs qq.com, to AFP. [/quote]The companies would also “resolutely support and cooperate with relevant government departments in measures to fight and clear up online rumours,” wrote a press statement, cited by Reuters.
Last month, Chinese authorities shut down over a dozen websites and arrested six people following unsubstantiated online speculation about a coup by security chief Zhou Yongkang after the dismissal of Bo Xilai from the Communist Party.
The rumours also claimed that there had been unusual military movements and security in the Chinese capital of Beijing, with stories of gunshots and tanks in the capital flooding the Internet.
Although China’s top military newspaper told troops last week to ignore all the online rumours, security concerns still continue to grow, especially after Bo’s former police chief had fled to a US consulate and reportedly demanded political asylum last month.
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The China Daily reported that the Internet Society of China had even written to the country’s Internet companies to stop the “fabricating or disseminating of online rumours.”
Weibo.com and qq.com were shut down for four days following the March incident. Since February, the Chinese government is said to have deleted more than 208,000 “harmful” online messages as part of an intensive nationwide crackdown.
