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China’s internet censorship
ChinaPolitics

Crackdown on anonymous Chinese social media accounts heightens concerns over privacy and free speech

  • Leading influencers on Weibo have been told they must use their real names, with other platforms expected to introduce similar rules
  • Change follows the introduction of new internet rules, but critics fear it will increase the risk of online harassment and the release of private data

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Weibo users with more than a million followers have been told to use their real names. Photo: Shutterstock
Phoebe Zhang

This week a number of popular Chinese social media accounts suddenly started closing or deleting large numbers of followers.

“I will close this account now and say goodbye to all of you,” one account that mainly posts celebrity news wrote. “I hope you all will lead happy and successful lives.”

They were reacting to a new policy that will make it mandatory for social media users with a large following on Weibo to disclose their real names – raising concerns that it will violate the privacy of those who run popular accounts and increase the risk of personal information being exposed online.

Analysts fear that the new rules will further discourage public expression on China’s internet, which already has some of the heaviest restrictions in the world.

The policy has yet to be publicly announced but the South China Morning Post has learned that it will mainly apply to those Weibo categorised as influencers who regularly post on politics, finance and entertainment and will not affect those who are seen as mostly posting about food and cosmetics.

Weibo users with more than one million fans will need to comply by the end of October, and those with 500,000 to one million fans will follow by the end of this year.

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