China has closed down more than 100,000 social media accounts it claims were responsible for spreading fake news, the country’s cyberspace regulator said.
The accounts, which the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) says misrepresented news anchors and media agencies, were scrubbed over the last month.
The move was part of a CAC campaign to clean up online information, focusing on social media accounts that it says disseminate “fake news” and impersonate state-controlled media.
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The regulator said it had wiped 107,000 accounts belonging to counterfeit news units and news anchors and 835,000 items of fake news in the last six weeks.
The clean-up comes as China and countries across the globe grapple with an onslaught of fake news coverage online, with many implementing laws to punish culprits.
News dissemination on Chinese social media, however, is already heavily controlled, with platforms like the Twitter-like Weibo favouring topic hashtags produced by state media, while censoring hashtags on issues or incidents considered sensitive by Beijing, even if they go viral.
The CAC said its review found accounts that had disguised themselves as authoritative news media by falsifying news studio scenes and imitating professional news presenters, using artificial intelligence (AI) to create anchors to mislead the public.
Malicious Comments Crackdown
Fake news identified covered hot topics such as social incidents and international current affairs, according to a statement the CAC posted on Monday on its website.
“[The CAC] will guide online platforms … to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the majority of internet users to obtain authoritative and real news,” the regulator said, adding it encouraged users to provide leads on counterfeit news and anchors.
China’s government has regularly ordered sweeping measures to scrub the internet of material and language it deemed inappropriate, offensive and a threat to the public and businesses.
Recently, the CAC vowed to crack down on malicious online comments that damage the reputation of businesses and entrepreneurs.
Nascent generative AI technology like ChatGPT has introduced another layer of caution. China recently arrested a man in Gansu province for allegedly using ChatGPT to generate a fake story about a train crash.
- Reuters with additional editing by Sean O’Meara
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