简体中文
China's top social media sits including Baidu, Tencent, Weibo, are under an investigating over failing to comply with strict laws which is required to ban violent, obscene or deemed offensive content to the Communist Party, China's cyber regulator said on Friday.
The Cyberspace Administration (CAC) said it was investigating Tencent Holdings Group - WeChat, Weibo Corp, and Baidu forum site Tieba over suspected violations of the country's strict cybersecurity laws.
According to the Cyberspace Administration website, "users are spreading violence, terror, false rumors, pornography and other hazards to national security, public safety, social order".
China's Cyberspace Administration
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) also known as the Office of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs, is the central Internet censorship, oversight, and control agency for the People's Republic of China.
The CAC was founded in 2014. The CAC answers to the Central Leading Group for Internet Security and Informatization.
Based on the same bureaucracy as the Communist Party's Office for Foreign Propaganda, the CAC is involved in the formulation and implementation of policy on a variety of issues related to the Chinese Internet.
The CAC includes the following departments: an Internet Security Emergency Command Center, an Agency Service Center, and an Illegal and Unhealthy Information Reporting Center. The CAC also maintains some censorship functions to China's media.
Cyber authorities also called on the same firms to carry out immediate "cleaning and rectification" at a meeting with their representatives last month.
As one of China's most popular social media platforms, Weibo, was ordered to partially close its video site over violations, wiping out a combined 1.3 billion US dollars worth of stock between Weibo and parent firm Sina Corp.
Comparing rest of the world, China has its own censorship in terms of accessing information online. The CAC was responsible for issuing a "voluntary pledge" that was intended to be adhered to by the major Internet portals in China about the comments that would or would not be allowed to be made on their website.
According to the CAC policy, information includes "harmed national security... harmed the nation's honor or interest...damaged the nation's religious policies...spread rumors...disturbed public order... and intentionally using character combinations to avoid censorship" are banned."
WeChat and Weibo have about 940 million and 350 million monthly active users, official data shows.
The companies did not respond anything yet.
(CGTN)
