Netizens React After Chinese Regime Takes Aim at Microblogs

Chinese netizens are in an uproar. Recent indications from the Chinese regime seem to point to tougher controls on popular mircroblogging services, such as Sina Weibo.

On Tuesday, state-run Xinhua News Agency attacked the site for its role in spreading what it calls false information. It said that more should be done to clean websites of, “toxic rumors.” Last week, a senior communist party official urged Sina Weibo to regulate online content. While these moves seem to target so called rumor mongering, Chinese bloggers fear the real intention is to reign in free speech.

[Jin Chu, Guangxi Online Author]
“China is ruled by people, [not by law]. The leaders can easily determine the fate of a media company. Through the Internet, the people have come to know the truth and facts of things. This has caused the Communist regime to panic, and they’re thinking of ways to block it.”

Sina Weibo, which is similar to the banned Twitter social media site, has grown hugely popular in China. Chinese netizens have been able to express opinions or report on events that escape usual censorship limits. A recent case was the train crash in Wenzhou that sparked an online uproar against authorities’ response.

This appears to have unnerved the Chinese regime. After a visit by the Beijing Communist Party Secretary last week, Sina Weibo, China’s most popular microblogging site, announced it suspended the accounts of two users for apparently posting rumors. Other netizens say they’ve been experiencing difficulties using their weibo accounts.

[Hu Jun, Xinjiang Netizen]
“Sometimes your Weibo account isn’t blocked, but you cannot send things. Whatever you write is blocked. If there are sensitive phrases, the website would stall. This happens quite often.”

Some commentators doubt whether any attempt to control microblogs would be successful.

[Huang Qi, Online Activist]
“Whether the control comes from the regime or elsewhere, these moves won’t really block online freedom. The public will think of ways to overcome it, there are after all a lot of people working to break down this Berlin Wall, and breakthrough news censorship.”

China has the world’s largest online population, with more than 480 million Internet users. 200 million of them use Sina Weibo or other forms of microblogs.