BEIJING: Chinese authorities have ordered a major social media platform to curb “harmful content” more effectively as they intensify oversight of online expression. Sina Weibo has failed to comply, Beijing’s Cyberspace Administration said Saturday on its official WeChat social media account, berating the site for letting users post “content of wrong public opinion orientation, obscenity, low taste and ethnic discrimination.” The company “has violated the country’s laws and regulations, led online public opinions to wrong direction and left a very bad influence,” it said. In another case announced Friday, China’s securities watchdog announced it had punished a blogger on WeChat with a 200,000 yuan ($31,000) fine for posting market-moving “misinformation” about meetings between corporations and regulators. China has some of the world’s tightest controls over web content, protected by what is called “The Great Firewall”. Restrictions on free speech have increased since President Xi Jinping assumed power in 2012.

Source: Manila Times January 28, 2018 07:52 UTC