China has ordered the country’s Internet platforms to verify users’ true identity before letting them post online content, the latest step by authorities to tighten policing of the Web.
All social networking sites and discussion forums must “check the real identity” of their users before they can post online content and comments, under new regulations published on Friday by the Cyberspace Administration of China.
The platforms will also have to strengthen their oversight over all published information, deleting all illegal content while also alerting authorities to the postings.
The new guidelines are to take effect on Oct. 1.
China already had laws requiring companies to verify a user’s identity, but it was applied in a fragmented and incomplete way.
However, forcing online posters to identify themselves — which will probably require scanning a government-issued ID as proof of identity — makes it much more difficult to post online anonymously.
China already tightly controls the Internet, aggressively blocking sites of which it disapproves and curbing politically sensitive online commentary, such as on criticism of the government.
The new regulation was adopted as part of a cybersecurity law that took effect in June, which bans Internet users from publishing a wide variety of information.
That covers anything that damages “national honor,” “disturbs economic or social order” or is aimed at “overthrowing the socialist system.”
The law also requires online platforms to get a license to post news reports or commentary about the government, economy, military, foreign affairs and social issues.
Since 2013, China has imposed prison sentences on users whose messages are deemed “defamatory.”
However, new restrictive measures have multiplied in recent months, ahead of the Chinese Communist Party’s autumn congress during which Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is expected to be re-elected.
China has enforced new rules on what is permissible content, with content such as celebrity gossip blogs and online video streaming sites hit by the regulations.
The authorities have also stepped up efforts to clamp down on virtual private networks, software that allows people to circumvent the “Great Firewall.”
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San
Clambering hand-over-hand, sweat dripping into his eyes, a durian laborer expertly slices a cumbersome fruit from a tree before tossing it down to land with a soft thump in his colleague’s waiting arms about 15m below. Among Thailand’s most famous and lucrative exports, the pungent “king of fruits” is as distinctive in its smell as its spiky green-brown carapace, and has been farmed in the kingdom for hundreds of years. However, a vicious heat wave engulfing Southeast Asia has resulted in smaller yields and spiraling costs, with growers and sellers increasingly panicked as global warming damages the industry. “This year is a crisis,”