Chinese officials will be cracking down on internet users who like illegal or harmful social media posts. According to CNN, a new set of guidelines on social media will take aim at likes in addition to comments and posts on December 15. The central cyberspace affairs commission is chaired by China's president. The new regulation requires that Chinese social media sites verify the real identities of all users and score them based on likes and comments, with low- scoring users labeled "dishonest" and put on blocklists. There were protests over the weekend after 10 people died in an apartment fire. The local officials said the fire was caused by a faulty power strip and denied the Covid-19 lockdown caused the deaths. Protestors have been one step ahead of censors, sending content including photos and videos to third parties outside the country which can be uploaded to social media in China. The Chinese government was forced to push back against the zero-covid policy after the popular videos attracted more protesters.
The fire caused citizens around the country to start protesting outside of government offices and in main public areas. This is one of the few widespread protests in China since Tiananmen Square two decades ago, and the Chinese government is using the same tactics as before by arresting citizens and focusing on those deemed instigators or leaders of the movement. David Zweig is a professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
A former censor and internet control expert told The New York Times that if China wanted to completely moderate the content it would need to hire 10 times the number of staff they currently have.
Joseph Cheng, a retired professor of political science at the City University of Hong Kong, told CNN that the authorities are very concerned with the spread of protest activities, and an important means of control is to stop the communications of potential protesters.
According to the founder and CEO of Strategy Risks, policing social media in China is likely to get more aggressive as the protests grow.
Cheng said, "It is almost impossible to stop the spread of protest activities as the dissatisfaction continues to spread."
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