According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), the Deputy Director of the State Internet Information Office recently spoke at the Internet Development and Management meeting held in Beijing. He stated that since the effort to attack Internet rumors was launched in May of this year, the end result has been effective. A number of microblog accounts have been closed and the related personnel have been punished because of their involvement in spreading rumors on the Internet.
Liu Qing, a China Human Rights activist told RFA that the “effort to clean up the Internet environment” was meant to make the contents that the Chinese government does not welcome or that provide truth clarification information disappear from the internet. Liu added, “They have done this so many times. … If the censored information were to be made available to the public for open discussion, the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party would face a huge challenge and be threatened. Therefore they will try every means to control the Internet. … The Communist Party has taken control of the Internet and of information as its lifeline. They will not let it go that easily.”
The statistics indicate that, by June 2013, there were 331 million microblog users in China. Since its launch in 2011, the number of micro message users has broken 300 million. According to the top ten most influential Internet sites, over 200 million microblog exchanges take place each day.
Source: Radio Free Asia, November 28, 2013
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/nu-11282013141840.html