China intensifies internet crackdown
September 16, 2013 12:07 pm
China intensifies internet crackdown
By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing
The Chinese government has intensified its crackdown on
the internet, describing online criticism of the ruling Communist party as
illegal and airing a televised confession from one of the country’s most
popular online commentators.
An article in Monday’s edition of the influential party
journal “Seeking Truth” described online criticism of the party and government
as “defamation”, while Chinese-American investor and internet personality
Charles Xue appeared on state television in handcuffs on Sunday to praise new
legislation that in effect criminalises online dissent.
The moves are part of a wider campaign launched in recent
weeks by newly installed President Xi Jinping to stifle calls for political
reform in China and assert control over the country’s unruly internet.
Mr Xue, who boasts 12m followers on the Twitter-like Sina
Weibo, was arrested in August for allegedly hiring prostitutes for group sex
sessions, but most analysts and even senior officials say his arrest was
intended as a warning to other prominent internet personalities.
There was no mention of the prostitute allegations in a
10-minute segment aired on China Central Television on Sunday, during which a
chastened Mr Xue described how he had contributed to an “illegal and immoral”
atmosphere on the Chinese internet.
“I felt like the emperor of the internet,” Mr Xue said
when describing the thrill of speaking directly to more than 12m followers.
“How do you think that felt? Awesome.”
The shackled Mr Xue also praised a legal interpretation
issued by China’s judicial authorities last week, which allows people to be
prosecuted for defamation or “spreading online rumours” if their posts are
viewed by more than 5,000 internet users or forwarded more than 500 times.
The latest internet regulations are intended to “achieve
the good social effect of attacking the extremely small minority and educating
the large majority” to “standardise their online words and deeds”, the
government said last week.
Those found guilty of online “rumour-mongering” can be
sentenced to up to three years in prison.
Defenders of the rules say they are necessary to protect
individuals from libel and to stop the spread of false rumours that can lead to
public panic.
One prominent example came after the 2011 Japanese
tsunami and the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant, when shops across
China sold out of salt after internet users had falsely claimed that the iodine
it contained could guard against radiation.
The most important target of the current internet crackdown,
however, appears to be criticism of the government and the Communist party.
“The use of information networks to commit provocation
and other such crimes has created grave destruction of social and public
order,” Chinese judicial authorities said in an online explanation of the new
rules. “Acts of jeering and stirring up trouble easily lead to mass incidents
and create grave upsets of public order.”
Criminal defamation cases can be brought against internet
users even when there is no plaintiff, as long as the authorities decide that
online content “gravely harms social order or national interests”.
The vague and broad definition of online criminality
includes “triggering upsets of public order”, “causing vile social influence”,
“causing vile international influence” and “harming the country’s image”,
according to the new interpretation.
In practice, the crime of “stirring up trouble” has often
been used to silence political activists and critics of the Communist party or
individual leaders.
“With this legislation the party is trying to regain
ownership over public discourse,” said one normally outspoken professor of
politics at one of China’s top universities, who asked not to be named because
of fear of reprisal. “It is equally important to the party to control both
public opinion and the barrel of the gun.”
The arrest of Mr Xue and the new regulations have had a
pronounced chilling effect on online debate in recent weeks, with a number of
high-profile commentators either absent or publicly stating their support for
the revised online rules.
Pan Shiyi, founder of top real estate developer Soho
China, appeared in a nervous television interview last week in which he said he
wholeheartedly supported the new internet regulations.
Mr Pan boasts 16m followers on Weibo and has been an
outspoken and passionate advocate for a variety of causes as well as a critic
of some government policies.
The latest moves to rein in online debate are stricter
than any in recent years and come after Mr Xi urged the propaganda apparatus in
August to form a strong “internet army,” to “seize the ground of new media,”
according to Chinese media reports.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013
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