The CCP Cracks Down on Online Rumors” and “False Information” before the 20th National Congress”

According to a report on September 3rd, in order to thoroughly clean up online rumors and false information and create a clean and upright online environment, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) decided to launch a special 3-month nationwide campaign to “combat internet rumors and disinformation”.

The administration stated that the targets of cyber strikes include “rumors and false information related to major conferences, important events, policies, heroes and martyrs, the social economy, natural disasters, etc.” They stated that these rumors must be “cleaned up and dealt with strictly, quickly and severely”, and intend “to increase traceability and accountability, to develop comprehensive rules for punishment, and to form a strong deterrent to such behavior by regularly reporting the forms of punishments administered. The campaign aims to minimize the space for online rumors and false information, and requires all platforms to improve their rumor-refuting mechanisms to consolidate the main responsibility of each platform.

As the 20th National Congress approaches, this special campaign shows the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s measures to strengthen stability before the major event. The CAC has announced that since the launch of the “Qinglang” series of special campaigns, more than 20 billion pieces of so-called “illegal” and “harmful” information as well as nearly 1.4 billion accounts have been cleaned up, which is equivalent to an average of every Chinese being banned once.