Sina Weibo launches new system to tackle online rumors
Staff Reporter 2013-08-24 14:20
A Sina Weibo booth at a trade fair. (File photo/CFP)
Sina Weibo, China's largest microblog platform, announced a new policy that will deduct users' points if they are found spreading fabricated and untrue rumors, according to the Beijing Times.
During a press conference for the construction of py.qianlong.com, an account set up by the Chinese government to disperse rumors, the microblog's government affairs manager Yan Yuanping said a user will automatically be given 80 points when joining Sina Weibo. If more than ten people report a user of spreading rumors, Sina Weibo will randomly selected nine out of 758 experts from its community to vote on the content on the user' micoblog. They will then deduct points from the user's account according to the level of the violation.
If a user has less than 60 points, a symbol signifying "low trustworthiness" will be shown alongside the user's account name. If a user loses all their points, their account will be revoked, the paper said.
Posts spreading rumors found not to be true will be marked with the phrase "the content is untrue and has been dealt with," and the user will not be able to delete the post. Users who repost the false information will also receive a warning message from the social networking site.
Sina Weibo announced that it will adopt a series of measures to disperse rumors which come under the tactics of "using science to break pseudo-science", using unnamed sources that are unreliable, spreading rumors that lacks five characteristics of genuine news, and spreading rumors about public figures.
The new policy comes after an internet user Qin Huohuo, whose real name is Qin Zhihui, and Yang Xiuyu were arrested by Beijing police for using microblog accounts to spread over 3,000 online rumors since 2010.
The influence of people spreading rumors online should not be ignored, especially celebrities that received a "v" from Sina Weibo that certified their identities, said Xu Lanting, a lawyer and a commissioner of the criminal case committee at the All China Lawyers Association.
