China’s President Xi Jinping Beijing intensifies regulatory pressure on social media giants as the government launches a sweeping campaign to curb harmful digital content and strengthen national cyber governance
China’s President Xi Jinping has pledged a decisive crackdown on what he described as widespread online misconduct, calling for the creation of a “clean and upright cyberspace” as Beijing ramps up pressure on digital platforms and tightens its grip on content regulation.
Speaking during a high-level Communist Party meeting on Friday, Xi warned that unchecked online behaviour “pollutes social ethos” and undermines the country’s broader goals of development and security. He urged authorities to act boldly, “draw the sword,” and dismantle the profit networks and conditions that allow harmful online content to flourish.
His remarks come amid a series of enforcement actions by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which in September penalized several major platforms, including ByteDance’s news app Jinri Toutiao and Alibaba-owned UCWeb, for allegedly hosting or circulating prohibited material. Beijing requires platforms to rigorously moderate posts and remove anything judged subversive, vulgar, pornographic, or otherwise harmful.
That same month, the CAC announced a two-month nationwide campaign aimed at confronting what it described as the “malicious incitement of conflict” and the spread of violent or toxic narratives online. As part of the campaign, regulators also issued penalties to three influential platforms: Weibo, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu, accusing them of failing to fulfill their content-management obligations.
According to CAC statements, corrective measures for these companies include formal summonses, deadlines to fix violations, strict warnings, and the possibility of severe disciplinary actions for those deemed responsible.
Xi emphasized that managing the digital landscape is a central component of China’s ambition to become a global cyber power. Effective oversight, he insisted, is essential not only for national stability but also for safeguarding the fundamental interests of the Chinese people.
0 Comments