China Will Punish Internet Users who ‘like’ Posts after Protests Against Zero-Covid
Users of the internet in China will soon face criminal charges for liking harmful or illegal posts. This raises concerns that China’s second-largest economy is trying to take control of social media.
China’s internet watchdog is increasing its regulation of cyberspace, as authorities intensify their crackdown on online dissent in the context of growing public anger at the country’s strict Covid restrictions.
These new rules will be in effect as part of, a new set of guidelines that was published earlier this month by the Cyberspace Administration of China. The Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, headed by Xi Jinping, runs the CAC.
These new rules were highlighted on social media and will be in effect within weeks of an unprecedented public outrage. Over the weekend, thousands of protestors demonstrated in over a dozen cities, calling for the end to Covid restrictions and demanding political freedoms.
Users are snapping screenshots of content in protest to preserve them and using coded reference messages to evade the censors. authorities are trying to clean up the internet.
The regulation is an updated version of one published in 2017,. It is the first time that public posts with “likes” must be regulated. Public accounts also need to actively vet all comments under their posts.
The rules did not specify what content would be considered illegal, or harmful.
“Liking illegal things shows that people support the cause being raised.” David Zweig, professor-emeritus at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology said that too many likes “can start a Prairie fire,” referring to a Chinese saying about how one spark can ignite a much larger fire.
“The ability to communicate between cities is what poses a threat to the [Chinese Communist Party]”. He said that authorities must have been very scared when so many people from so many cities appeared at once.”
Very worried
Analysts believe the new regulation is a sign of authorities’ increasing crackdown on dissent.
Joseph Cheng, a former professor of political science at City University of Hong Kong, stated that authorities are concerned about the spread of protest activities.
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