Beijing — Chinese authorities in a massive countrywide crackdown on internet crime, on Saturday enacted a ban on a vibrant social media networking websites, and said they have arrested 1,065 suspects and shutting off the comment function for two gigantic microblog services.
Chinese authorities initiated the campaign late Friday and implemented it in stages through Saturday, have closed down 16 websites, penalized two of the country’s biggest microblog sites and detained 6 persons for spreading rumors of a coup attempt in the capital after the sacking of its most charismatic Communist Party leader, Bo Xilai, who lost his post in March.
According to RIA Novosti, spurred rumors of a possible coup attempt began to circulate on the internet after top leadership contender Bo Xilai was sacked as head of the mega city of Chongqing earlier this month.
Bo’s dismissal came amid allegations that his former ally and police chief had tried to seek asylum at a US consulate.
According to Xinhua reports, quoted an official with the State Internet Information Office as stating that the sites had spread reports of “military vehicles entering Beijing and something wrong going on in Beijing.”
According to several other reports, Sina Corp., the largest provider of the Twitter-like service with more than 300 million registered users, and Tencent Holdings Ltd., the No. 2 player, instituted a 72-hour suspension of the commenting function starting at 8 a.m. March 31, citing a need to clear up rumors and illegal information.
The crackdown is associated with the political instability that has gripped China since Bo Xilai lost his post in March. Photo: Reuters
The report claimed that those websites were blocked for spreading rumors last week about some unforeseen thing is going to happen in Beijing, which were fabricated by some lawless people recently.
As the raid was initiated, operators of around 3,117 websites have received warnings, Xinhua quoted a spokesman from the Beijing police’s cyber security department. At least 70 internet companies that defied the warnings have received “administrative punishments”, including forced closure.
According to the reports, which Xinhua said were carried on the following sites meizhou.net, xn528.com and cndy.com.cn, which originated from disagreements among senior leaders over whether to remove Bo, who is being investigated over accusations of corruption and abuse of power. One of his backers, the senior leader Zhou Yongkang, was said to be behind the planned coup, although most Chinese analysts have discounted this as a fabrication.
These rumors have caused “a very bad effect on public” and the websites were closed as per laws for failing to curb the spread of rumors, an official spokesman told state-run Xinhua news agency.
Also two major Chinese microblogging sites, weibo.com and t.qq.com, which together have about 300 million micropbloggers have blocked comment functions after they were punished for allowing rumors to spread, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.
Accordingly, the t.qq.com, which is operated by Tencent and Weibo.Com put up an online announcement that they have decided to suspend comment function from March 31 to April 3 to straighten up rumors and other “illegal information” spread through microbloggings.
Besides, the State Internet Information Office (SIIO) and Beijing police said the campaign dubbed “Spring Breeze” was initiated on Feb 14. It targeted the dissemination of information related to smuggling of firearms, drugs and toxic chemicals as well as sale of human organs, counterfeit certificates and invoices and trade in personal information.
State-owned People’s Daily said in a commentary: “Internet rumors and lies bundled as ‘facts’ will transform speculation into ‘reality’, stir up trouble online and disturb people’s minds. If allowed to run amok, they will seriously disrupt social order, affect social stability and harm social integrity.”
In addition, the rumors sparked by pictures of battle tanks rolling down in Beijing with questions whether there was a coup were widely picked up by the western media. Some other articles in the micro-blogs even said shots were fired near the Communist Party’s leadership compound.
A BBC report said “On closer examination though, some of the pictures seemed to be old ones from rehearsals for military parades, others did not even seem to be of Beijing, as they claimed, but different Chinese cities”.
While countless posts have also long been subject to deletion for their content, this ban on comments is the first blanket restriction the services have applied, said Duncan Clark, chairman of Beijing-based BDA China, which advises technology companies.
“It is just a flexing of muscles” by the authorities, Clark said in a telephonic interview yesterday. “I can only see it as a gesture.”