THE country has launched a campaign to crack down on illicit activities on social media, including spreading rumors or pornographic information.

More than 9,800 self-media accounts, referring to subscription-based accounts that are popular on WeChat, Weibo or news portals such as Toutiao, have been punished in the campaign that was launched Oct. 20, said the Cyberspace Administration of (CAC).

The violations included defaming heroes, tarnishing the nation’s image, spreading rumors and information that is sensational, lewd or pornographic, and blackmailing companies with media exposure, said the administration.

“Self-media should never be a place outside of judicial reach,” said the CAC.

The CAC summoned social media platforms, including Tencent’s WeChat and Sina Weibo, warning them against neglecting their duty of managing self-media on their platforms.

The CAC said the overhaul of self-media and its orderly development needs the participation of the whole society, and supervision and public tip-offs on illegal and harmful information are welcome to safeguard a healthy cyberspace.

“The chaos has seriously trampled on the dignity of the law and damaged the interests of the public,” CAC said.

From now on, the self-media accounts will be managed in accordance with different classifications, and will be under strict supervision, said the CAC.

The CAC summoned WeChat and Weibo and warned them for being irresponsible and negligent. WeChat has a billion active users per month and Weibo has about 400 million. WeChat and Weibo could not be reached Tuesday for further comment.

WeChat has deleted 60,919 articles for spreading pornographic and violent content, 174,825 articles for vulgar content, and 76,265 for exaggerated and misleading content since the beginning of 2018, WeChat said Sunday.

WeChat users have the right to complain if they find content on self-media that engages in fraud or harassment.

To better screen harmful information and regulate social media accounts, the government should issue more practical standards or cite excellent cases for the public to learn, analysts noted.

This was not the first time that social media platforms had been summoned by the cyber watchdog. In June 2017, social media platforms including Weibo, Jinri Toutiao and WeChat shut down 60 accounts, and the Beijing municipal cyberspace department asked them to spread socialist core values and create a healthy and positive public environment.  (Xinhua)