Creators of online groups to be held responsible for the content posted in China

Almaty. September 12. Silkroadnews – Creators of online groups to be held responsible for the content posted in China, South China Morning Post reported.
“Creators of online groups tightening control of posts as they will be held responsible for the content under regulations coming into force next month. ... The new rules apply to all internet and mobile forums,” the report says.
Some people have been brought to justice even before the new rules came into force.
“The measure does not take effect until next month, but the authorities have jumped into action by disciplining 40 people in one group for spreading petition letters and arresting a man who complained about police raids,” the publication reads.
The prospect of being punished for someone else’s statements led many administrators to close their groups and others to publish new group rules forbidding the spread of rumors or unauthorized information about Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The new rules, as noted, mainly affected users of instant messengers WeChat and QQ.
According to the agency, “Tencent’s WeChat and QQ, which has 662 million mobile users, evolved from instant messaging to become true social networks by adding news feeds, photo sharing and other services. Anyone can create a group, usually of as many as 500 people, to share pictures, voice chats and links to websites.”
It is reported that Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, faced a similar tightening a few years ago, when users had to reveal their identities and then several civil activists were arrested for comments.
As smartphones became more common, users switched to WeChat, which was under less control, fueling Tencent’s growth and making it an empire of $400 billion worth. The Weibo market value is only $23 billion.