Update: The restrictions on the microblogging services were lifted Tuesday. See a Wall Street Journal report.
The Wall Street Journal reports on the crackdown on the commenting function on microblogging sites in an effort to stop rumor-mongering:
The state-run Xinhua news agency called the measures a punishment for the companies for allowing the rumors to appear, “resulting in adverse impact.”
Xiao Qiang, a scholar of the Chinese Internet at the University of California, Berkeley, said the moves show online discussion is hitting closer to home for the Communist Party than in years past, when authorities used censorship to quash discussions about issues such as democracy or Tibetan independence. Now “it’s about internal politics,” he said. The crackdown is “a public acknowledgment of their insecurity about online public opinion.”
Separate Xinhua articles Friday and Saturday also announced the closure of 16 websites, the detention of six people for “fabricating or disseminating online rumors” particularly through microblogs, and the arrest of more than 1,000 other suspects since mid-February in a broader “Internet crime crackdown.”that Xinhua said focused on information related to firearms smuggling, drug smuggling and drug-related crimes and other offenses
The articles didn’t provide details on the arrests. The State Internet Information Office didn’t respond to requests to comment.
Tea Leaf Nation looks at the actual impact of the new rules on Sina Weibo and other microblogging services:
Something feels different: Fewer tweets, thinner commentary, and a greater profusion of movies, movie stars, TV shows, and other light fare on the trending topics board. To wit, current trending topic #2 on Sina Weibo: The Public Safety Department press office and Sina Weibo jointly present safe travel tips for Qing Ming Festival. Riveting!
It’s impossible to say when this chill will end. Sina and Tencent both maintain the comment suspension will cease promptly at eight o’clock on Tuesday morning, but one can easily envision a “trial extension” under thin pretexts. Huang Jinghao (@黄京皓), a close Weibo watcher, offers these predictions for a Weibo sans comments: “1. Official accounts won’t be greatly affected, and retweeting won’t be affected at all; 2. Celebrity accounts won’t be greatly affected, as fans will retweet their tweets no matter what; 3. The grassroots will be the most affected. Originally many friends would chat with you via ‘comments,’ now that is not possible.” He ends by asking, “Would you still use a Weibo … this boring, with only celebrities and official accounts?”
Some will simply say, “No thanks.” In targeting comments, censors may have found Weibo’s Achilles Heel (read: its best, most democratizing feature).
For more on this topic, see an earlier CDT post, “Weibo Comments Suspended in Coup Rumour Aftermath” and cartoons created by netizens in response to the order.
