There are a million and one ways that website publishers based in China can get in trouble with China’s CCP government. One is by failing to adequately censor users who utter objectionable speech, including what the government calls rumors.
The Hong Kong–based South China Morning Post reports that in July 2023, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security conducted a campaign to go after online rumors. It had conducted a similar, hundred-day campaign earlier in the year that the ministry says was a smashing success, with over 10,000 social media accounts being shut down for rumor-spreading.
As examples of expunged rumors, police in Shanghai and Tibet cite online comments that falsely (or allegedly falsely) accused others of committing a crime. But the government is doubtless also targeting “rumors” that consist of criticism of the government.
Another article in the Post discusses a product and company called Renmin Shenjiao that is promoted in the official CCP newspaper People’s Daily (“Why Chinese entities are turning to People’s Daily censorship AI to avoid political mines”). Renmin Shenjiao will screen “written materials, photos, videos, and posts on social media platforms, including WeChat and Weibo” to help online publishers avoid getting into hot water with the censors.
A sales handout for potential clients seen by the South China Morning Post lists an annual fee of between 46,000 yuan and 99,000 yuan (US$6,400-$13,700), depending on how much material needs to be screened.
Clients upload material to the platform for review by AI and a team of censors. Content that could be flagged as risky includes material related to ideology, religion, purged government officials, Chinese dissidents, and maps related to disputed border areas.
According to the sales document, animations of government leaders, content related to their relatives, and references to disgraced celebrities would also be picked up as potential risks.
If Renmin Shenjiao always has the latest data on the CCP’s shifting red lines that publishers may not cross, Renmin Shenjiao is in effect a CCP product. So all you have to do as an online publisher in China to avoid being penalized by the CCP for permitting any of the infinite variety of CCP-banned speech is just pay the CCP thousands of dollars a year. Quite a protection racket.
