China Government Has 2 Million People Monitoring Internet Activities
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More than two million people in China are currently employed by the government to monitor the online activities of their fellow citizens, according to a local media report, highlighting the lengths the government would go to in order to control the Internet.
The Beijing News, as cited by the BBC last week, claimed that the personnel were hired as “Internet opinion analysts”, whose jobs were to collect and report on the views and attitudes of people on social networks.
More than two million people in China are currently employed by the government to monitor the online activities of their fellow citizens, according to a local media report, highlighting the lengths the government would go to in order to control the Internet.
The Beijing News, as cited by the BBC last week, claimed that the personnel were hired as “Internet opinion analysts”, whose jobs were to collect and report on the views and attitudes of people on social networks.
The report by the Beijing News also said that the “analysts” were not tasked to censor online postings, but were told to highlight significant cases to higher authorities.
[quote]The “analysts” are “strictly (hired) to gather and analyse public opinions on microblog sites and compile reports for decision-makers”, the report said.[/quote]Tang Xiaotao, a former Internet opinion analyst who worked for less than six months for the government, disclosed some of the procedures he had to do.
“He sits in front of a PC every day, and opening up an application, he types in key words which are specified by clients.”
“He then monitors negative opinions related to the clients, and gathers (them) and compile reports and send them to the clients,” the Beijing News said.
And despite the already vast number of these “analysts”, demand remains high for more such employees, with the government planning to hold training classes for the first time this month.
China has more than 591 million Internet users, making it the world’s largest online population. Authorities however regularly censor online content for fear of political or social unrest that could challenge the Communist party’s grip on power.
Last month, the Supreme Court warned that Internet users could face up to three years in jail if they spread “slanderous” information to more than 5000 views or 500 reposts.
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The Beijing News report gave a rare glimpse of how the government is cracking down online. However it also went on to describe several cases, whereby online monitoring allowed the police to “calm down” Internet users’ opinion by investigating certain web-exposed scandals.
An official from the State Internet Information Office was also recently quoted saying the current crackdown on online rumours actually helped, not hindered, free speech.
