China’s rumored new internet regulation has pro-government influencers worried about safety
The rule is said to force anonymous self-media accounts to display owners’ real names on social media. Critics say this will encourage cyber bullying and real-life harassment.
China is said to release a new internet regulation that will require social media platforms to display the real names of influencers, commentators and other self-media accounts with over one million followers by the end of October.
The Chinese government has not announced the regulation. But multiple influencers said they have been notified of the new rule. State media outlets, which are strictly under the control of the Chinese authorities, have also reported on the rumor, which adds to its authenticity.
The Global Times reported on Monday that Weibo, China’s most popular microblogging platform, will show online influencers’ real names, citing influencers with knowledge of the matter. The new regulation will only affect influencers who mainly create content about politics, finance or entertainment.
The rumor was first posted last week by Hong Rong (洪榕), a Chinese investor with a big following on Weibo. Contrary to what Global Times later reported, which indicated that the rule was only going to be applied on Weibo, Hong wrote that the “real name system” (实名制) will be implemented “across the internet” (全网).
“By the end of October, self-media accounts with over one million followers have to display real names,” he added. “By December, self-media accounts with over 500,000 followers will have to display real names.”
While reporting for Voice of America’s Chinese website, I sent an email asking Weibo if they could confirm the rumor. They have not responded.
On Weibo, Wang Gaofei, the company’s CEO, confirmed that the rumor is true. But he added that whether more influencers, or even ordinary netizens, will be subjected to the real name display rule down the road is not up to him.
Over the past decade, all major social media companies in China have gradually adopted real name requirements in user registration process. Users must provide the platform with their national identification numbers, phone numbers or other proofs of identity. This means that platforms, and the authorities if they want to, know whom each account belongs to.
Hu Xijin (胡锡进), the former editor-in-chief of Global Times who now works for the outlet as a commentator, praised the not-yet-announced real name display requirement.
“There is a lot of arguing going on in the fields of politics, finance and entertainment. And they have a big impact on society,” Hu wrote on Weibo. “Big Vs start controversies with their words. It’s only reasonable that the public learn of their real identities.”
时政、财经和娱乐领域是非最多，对社会的牵动力也都比较大，大V发言带节奏，理应让公众了解他们的真实身份。
Influencers with big followings are usually referred to as “Big V”s on China’s internet due to the V logo added to their Weibo profile pictures, which means “verified”.
Beijing Daily, an official newspaper run by Beijing’s Communist Party branch, published a commentary on Tuesday supporting the rumored regulation. The article criticized how some influencers have spread false information and pitched netizens against each other on hot issues.
“Now, requiring them to display real identity when they post is not only to provide necessary context to every point of view, but also to push Big Vs to take the responsibility that matches the energy of their words,” the article wrote.
如今要求其在发言时展示真实身份，不仅是为每个观点补充必要的背景信息，也是推动大V承担起与话语能量相匹配的责任。
In July, China’s internet regulator issued rules to platforms on how to regulate self-media accounts, which include non-government influencers and commentators. The rules require that platforms prevent the spread of misinformation by self-media accounts and punish the perpetrators.
The rules also dictate that self-media accounts in the fields of finance, education, healthcare and law are to be “strictly verified” and that their qualifications and background must be specified.
Despite government-run media’s approval, the rumored real name display rule has created panic on social media.
Lao Dongyan (劳东燕), a law professor at Tsinghua University, wrote in a Weibo post that the rule may result in leaking of personal information and that it could also discourage people from expressing contrarian opinions.
“More detailed and comprehensive studies need to be done and a variety of opinions should be listened to” before the government can finalize the policy, she wrote.
One blogger raised the concern that the rule may increase the possibility of female influencers being harassed in real life because of what they post online.
“Not that every man is going to do something like that, but they CAN do something like that,” the blogger wrote.
Among those worried about their safeties are some of the pro-government influencers and commentators who have remained anonymous over the years despite the huge online fame, or notoriety, they have accumulated.
One commentator with over two million followers on Weibo, whose internet handle can be roughly translated to “the writing official under the roots of the royal city” (皇城根下刀笔吏) wrote in a post after learning about the real name display rule that he used to receive online threats of violence against him and his family for “positively defending the system”.
“In the past, there was no real name display. They didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know who they were,” he wrote. “But from now on, they know who I am and I still don’t know who they are. So I’d like to ask, how am I supposed to ensure the safeties of mine and my family’s and that we don’t get threatened or violated?”
Another prominent pro-government influencer account who openly complained about the rumored real name display regulation is “Diba Guanwei” (帝吧官微), who has over 1.6 million followers on Weibo.
“Great. The era of cyber bullying and funeral wreath sending is coming back,” the account wrote in a now deleted post. “It’s always the law-abiding people that get hurt.”
“Diba Guanwei” is the official Weibo account of Diba, a nationalistic online forum. “Diba Guanwei” has organized several online brigadings against celebrities and activists who they deemed “anti-China”. During those brigadings, hundreds, if not thousands, of Chinese netizens flooded social media pages belonging to the targeted public figures with Chinese flags, political slogans and attacks.
In 2019, they were praised by the Chinese Community Party for brigading operations against pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong.
Due to China’s ever tightening grip on internet discussions, pro-government and nationalistic content, which often reflect official propaganda, have become a dominating traffic maker. And Chinese social media companies, like all social media companies, love traffic.
During my reporting, I talked with former Weibo censor Eric Liu, who told me that as much as pro-government influencers like “Diba Guanwei” help push Beijing’s agenda, China’s internet regulators probably do not care if these influencers quit over the new regulation or not because there are always others waiting to take their spot.
“No nationalism traffic will be lost because of this (rule),” he said. “If one Big V is scared and quit, the traffic they created will be harvested by another one.”
Liu said that one likely outcome of revealing the identity of self-media accounts is that those with academically or professionally acquired knowledge on certain subjects, such as science and medicine, will now have to think twice before posting something contradictory to the official narratives if they don’t want to be “canceled” in real life by an angry public that’s under the spell of government propaganda.
He brought up the example of Japan’s’ nuclear wastewater release that made headlines on China’s internet in August. Even though the release had passed international safety tests, at the time anyone who defended Japan’s decision or questioned Beijing’s opposition to it or tried to debunk misinformation about the release ran the risk of being accused of working for Tokyo or called a race traitor.
With the implementation of the real name display rule, Liu said, “a power structure outside the state-individual power structure is utilized to target you.”