Based on internal documents Epoch Times obtained from Fangzheng County, Heilongjiang Province, it reported that the local Political and Legal Affairs Commissions of the CCP are actively involved in Internet censorship.
These documents show that, in 2019, the CCP Political and Legal Affairs Commission at Fangzheng County formally established a cyber force for Internet censorship which is composed of a “professional team” and a “local team.” The the County Public Security Bureau leads the professional team and is composed of relevant staff from the County Public Security Bureaus Office of Procuratorates, County Courts, and the County Judicial Bureau, all under the CCP Political and Legal Commission of Fangzheng County. The “local team” is composed of relevant staff from the townships.
The cyber force receives regular training based on the online hot topics, to ensure they master the language of Internet users and the CCP’s official language. On major online topics, the cyber force engages in “positive propaganda and guides public opinion” on WeChat, Weibo, news posts, and forums. For controversial topics, the members of the cyber force collaboratively repost CCP official messages onto their respective blogs, forums, and community platforms, in order to further spread the CCP propaganda on the controversy.
According to the internal documents, the County’s CCP Political and Legal Commission will incentivize members of the cyber force with “rewards or encouragement of both a material and political nature.”
Source: Epoch Times, April 9, 2020