These days it's not uncommon for news to break on social
media, or for journalists to turn Twitter and Facebook posts into stories.
Officials in China, however, do not approve of the practice.
As reported by the South China Morning Post, the Cyberspace
Administration of China says that online news outlets cannot report news taken
from social media sites until the government has had a chance to review it for
accuracy and legitimacy.
The Post points to state-run Xinhua news outlet, which said
that "it is forbidden to use hearsay to create news or use conjecture and
imagination to distort facts" in China. The Cyberspace Administration,
along with its local divisions, will be charged with analyzing content to
ensure it's properly cited and sources are verified by those agencies
"No website is allowed to report public news without
specifying the sources, or report news that quotes untrue origins," the
agency said, according to the Post.
While the agency didn't say exactly how it will police
content, it did say that news outlets could face severe punishments, though it
did not elaborate.
For years, China has censored content within its borders,
and blocked US-based social-networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and
YouTube. Even Google has tangled with China over censorship. As a result,
residents rely largely on services like WeChat and Weibo, though the Chinese
have found ways around what is known as the Great Firewall, from VPN services
to the dark Web.
Source:
uk.pcmag.com
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