Beijing: China has vowed to intensify controls on social media and instant messaging tools, in the government’s highest-level reaction so far to the explosive growth of microblogs.
Communiques from the Communist Party’s Central Committee, which held an annual meeting that ended last week, set the broad direction for policy.
This one made clear that leaders are looking for ways to better control, but not snuff out, the microblog services that have become popular channels for spreading news and opinion that can unsettle the government.
“Strengthen guidance and administration of social Internet services and instant communications tools, and regulate the orderly dissemination of information,” said the communique, which made no reference to microblogs as such.
“Apply the law to sternly punish the dissemination of harmful information,” added the document. It did not give details of what form firmer regulation may take.
The announcement from the Party meeting builds on a stream of warnings in state media that has shown Beijing is nervous about the booming microblogs, called “weibo” in Chinese, and their potential to tear the seams of censorship and controls.
“Putting words like that in a document like that shows that they’re taking this issue very seriously,” said Li Yonggang, an expert on Internet policy at Nanjing University in east China.
“This is a political signal, but it will probably be some time before this results in any new measures or regulations emerge.”
Analysts said the business impact was likely to be muted, because investors have already taken into account growing official scrutiny of Chinese Internet companies, and the government is unlikely to shut down what has become an important valve for monitoring and easing social pressures.
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