(RECLAIM THE NET) – Beijing is updating its online censorship rules, and stepping up their enforcement, as the Cyberspace Administration of China is set to force social media personalities and bloggers to acquire government credentials if they wish to cover issues pertaining to politics, military and healthcare, education, the economy, and the judiciary.
Even by China’s standards, this is interpreted as a significant expansion of powers of regulators and censors, with the goal of establishing even firmer control over information, and promoting only one, officially approved narrative on a wide range of key news topics.
Requiring bloggers and others publishing online to obtain a permit has been a rule in China since 2017, but until now, it only concerned politics and military affairs and was not widely enforced.
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