China’s conducts massive crackdown on social media

Jinping-led government deletes 6.03 million pieces of information from the internet, shuts down 5.59 million social media accounts, freezes 9,28,000 ‘zombie’ accounts, removes 72,000 apps, criminalizes 338 live-stream platforms

@Kunal_Chonkar

New Delhi: Tightening its vice grip of internet censorship, the Chinese Government has carried out a massive crackdown on social media. The crackdown conducted on the orders of President Xi Jinping, Beijing’s cyberspace department has not only deleted citizen profiles but also accounts run by sharp critics of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Beijing has long kept tight reins on both traditional and new media to avoid potential subversion of its authority. Its digital deterrence tactics often entail strict media controls using monitoring systems and firewalls, shuttering publications or websites, and jailing dissident journalists, bloggers, and activists.

According to a report published by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) on September 2, available with TheNews21, the government has removed 6.03 million pieces of information from the internet. As per the report – the CAC regulators have also shut down 5.59 million social media accounts and froze 9,28,000 ‘zombie’ accounts, including 169 accounts with more than one million active followers and thousands of organic responses.

The report also highlights that the Chinese Government has removed 72,000 apps, criminalized 338 live stream platforms, and closed 74,000 live stream rooms in accordance with Beijing’s law. The CAC has tracked 1,05,000 live streamers and blocked them for violating digital media regulations.

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As per the CAC officials in Beijing, the massive crackdown campaign was started in August as part of the ‘three rectification’ program launched by the CPC. Under the campaign, strict actions were taken on social media accounts, channels, and streams for publishing and reposting news and information which was deemed illegal, harmful,  volatile, lowbrow, and vulgar in nature. The report quoted a senior CAC official as stating that the government campaign on social media seeks to tighten supervision, improve management, and promote the healthy and orderly development of digital information.

Weeding Out Critics

Speaking to The News21, research associate of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy (CCAS) Namrata Hasija said that such draconian actions on social media have been part of the regular offensive launched by Beijing to muzzle free media. She also claimed that the CAC announce the number of accounts they have closed at least once or twice in a year.

“However, after the spate of criticisms recently and the ‘rectification’ campaign in the security apparatus Xi Jinping is keen on weeding out people of suspect loyalty. This ties in with the severe punishments handed down go his critics specifically Xu Zhangrun, Xu Zhiyou, Cai Xia, and also Xu Zhangrun’s supporter and independent bookshop owner Geng Xiaonian. Jinping is cracking down hard,” observed Hasija.

On the aspect of the CAC deleting millions of active social media handles, Hasija claimed that Beijing flagged these accounts to be spreading harmful, false or pornographic information and malicious marketing gimmicks. “This is what the Chinese have said but of course it would cover any blog, account or individual who had posted articles or any news information that the government did not agree with,” Hasija said while linking this development to the recent spree of criticism on Jinping, which were left for too long on the internet during the COVID-19 period.

 “Basically Sina Weibo, Baidu, and other sites are used by people to share all sorts of information. The government had warned them that Sina Weibo has spread illegal information on the socio-eco-political aspects of China and even on national security. The information set contained distorted figures and various allegations which indicate there were articles that the authorities thought should not have reached the local people,” pointed the polymath on Chinese affairs.

Concerns over Food Scarcity

Apart from launching a strike on information sharing through social media, the CAC also shut down 13,600 online eating shows. The closures are part of China’s ongoing crackdown on food wastage. At a meeting on August 31, the CAC had announced that it had removed 13,600 food and gastronomic accounts. The South Korean trend of mukbang, known as “chibo” (eating broadcasts) in Mandarin, where live-streamers consume huge quantities of food while interacting with viewers, has been hugely popular in China. However, for the first time the CAC prominently targeted these food accounts in its digital clean-up campaign.

Explaining the unusual action taken by the Chinese Government on the food programs and accounts, Dr. Sriparna Pathak, Assistant Professor and Assistant Academic Dean of School of International Affairs at the OP Jindal Global University, said that the crackdown follows Jinping’s call on August 11 for China to curb food wastage. Since then, social media platforms have begun blocking mukbang and warning users not to promote food waste. Official media have waged a backlash against the trend of ‘big stomach stars’ or mukbangers, accusing them of encouraging food waste and unhealthy eating habits.

“The fact also remains that China has suffered from floods, epidemic, locusts, and rising tensions with its biggest trade partners, all of which will have an impact on food security. The timing of this campaign is noteworthy. The Chinese economy is slowly limping back to normal as shown by its second-quarter GDP statistics,” Dr. Pathak said.

While claiming that there is no need for such a campaign at the moment, she hinted that this was a clear indication of the Jinping-led government’s preparation for a theoretical worst-case scenario of the food supply shortage.

“Following the government’s message against food wastage, the Wuhan Catering Industry Association has urged restaurants in the city to limit the number of dishes served to diners. The association asked restaurants to implement a system wherein groups must order one dish less than the number of diners. The system is dubbed as N-1, which means that a group of 11 people for example can order only nine dishes,” Dr. Pathak informed while adding that the national legislature is also fast-tracking legislation around the campaign and the CPC-led government will ensure that Jinping’s orders are strictly enforced. Clearly the government will now decide people’s food choices and quantity.

In her observation, the food security situation in China is dire given the barrage of pestilence in addition to the impact of the COVID-19.  “Fears of imported goods being contaminated by the COVID-19- add to pressures to Southern provinces face. Cold storage companies have been ordered to suspend imports of frozen meat and seafood from virus hot regions. Clearly not all is well as far as China’s food security is concerned,” she claimed.