The latest version of the "Regulations on the Administration of Internet Post Comment Services" issued by the State Internet Information Office of China will come into effect on the 15th of next month, which considers "likes" as a form of evaluation. Experts believe that there may be "crime of likes" in the future ".

The picture shows the Chinese social platform "Weibo" App.

(Reuters)

[Instant News/Comprehensive Report] China's State Internet Information Office recently released the latest version of the "Regulations on the Administration of Internet Post Comment Services" which will come into effect on December 15th, and for the first time, "like" is also regarded as a form of evaluation. Regarding this, China Digital Times editor and former Weibo censor Liu Lipeng said, "Chinese netizens may be punished for liking content, and they will definitely be guilty of liking a bit."

According to the "Voice of America" ​​report, the latest version of the "Regulations on the Administration of Internet Posting and Commenting Services" released by the China Internet Information Office in the middle of this month will come into effect on the 15th of next month and will replace the old version of the regulations in 2017. Comment on the division of responsibilities for online censorship, and even explicitly require that the official account of the social platform should actively review the comments of netizens.

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According to the report, the new version of the "Regulations" for the first time regards comments, replies, messages, bullet screens, and likes as a form of comments. It also emphasizes that the Internet and other websites with public opinion attributes or social mobilization capabilities are required to establish comment review. Information security management systems such as management, real-time inspections, emergency response, and reporting, achieve instant discovery and disposal of illegal "bad information", and report to the network information department.

Facing that the new version of the "Regulations" is about to be launched, expert Liu Lipeng revealed in an exclusive interview that many of the review measures already in use have been standardized in response to the newly implemented review regulations. However, considering that strict implementation of these review regulations will consume a lot of resources, he does not question them. According to the operational feasibility of the regulations, "the review of likes should not need to be checked or filtered one by one like the review of posts, but since it is included in the review, it can be held accountable." If it is regarded as a comment, there will definitely be a "crime of liking"", "The real-name system will also be used to assist in censoring those who like and comment."

The Chinese government has continuously strengthened the censorship and control of online speech in recent years. This year's "20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China" has triggered the largest online censorship action. Once stricter censorship regulations are implemented in the future, each platform will invest more manpower and other resources Regarding censorship, Liu Lipeng said, "Now there may be 2,000 censors on news websites, but if we want to implement the new regulations 100% without compromise, it is estimated that 20,000 censors will be needed, but they will definitely be discounted."

In response to the authorities' implementation of the latest Internet censorship "Regulations", netizens criticized "Just turn off the like function!" People are bitter about "going a step further" and "no wonder they have to build square cabins, and they will directly be converted into concentration camps in the future."

It is reported that the Chinese government has continued to impose strict "zero-clearing policy" and "Xi Jinping's re-election" has caused public resentment. Under "censorship", these critical voices were "disappeared" in a short period of time.

Will "swipe likes" go to jail in the future?

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— Fang Zhouzi (@fangshimin) November 29, 2022