People’s Daily recently reported that the Chinese central government released new nationwide regulations on public instant messaging services. The regulations cover the management of public accounts and the content-related limitations on these accounts. One of the key requirements in the new rules is that all users must register with real names. These names must be validated by the service provider upon registration. Those public accounts opened by organizations that provide information services must go through additional reviews and must register with corresponding government administrative offices at the same time. Another important new rule is that any user account that is not opened by a government approved news agency cannot publish or republish political or “current events” types of news. Instant messaging service providers must visually mark the authorized news publishers. Service providers are also required to preserve records and proof of violations.
Source: People’s Daily, August 8, 2014
http://culture.people.com.cn/n/2014/0808/c172318-25426638.html