China launches platform to stamp out 'online rumours'

[Independent voter]

President Xi Jinping said last year that China will build a "clean and clear" internet.

There's now a website where you can go to report incidents on internet. Fake news? Someone posted a meme about President Xi? Someone started a thread you didn't like? Go to this website and report it. If the website's algorithm decides the incident is worthy of investigation, the incident will be investigated.

Someone post something on Gen-OT you don't like? Report them!





http://news.trust.org/item/20180830063018-6rju6

BEIJING, Aug 30 (Reuters) - China has launched a platform, which includes a mobile app, that lets the public report "online rumours" and even uses artificial intelligence to identify reports that are false, as Beijing cracks down on what it views as socially destabilising content.

The platform, launched on Wednesday, comes as Beijing steps up efforts to police the internet, especially social media used by people to discuss politics and other sensitive subjects, despite stringent censorship.

Besides a website, the platform Piyao - which means "refuting rumours" - also has a mobile app and social media accounts with social media giants Weibo and WeChat.

Via those channels, Piyao will broadcast "real" news, sourcing reports from state-owned media, party-controlled local newspapers, and various government agencies.

"Rumours violate individual rights; rumours create social panic; rumours cause fluctuations in the stock markets; rumours impact normal business operations; rumours blatantly attack revolutionary martyrs," Piyao said in a promotional video of the launch on its website.

Official data show internet regulators received 6.7 million reports of illegal and false information in July, with most of the cases coming from Sina that owns Weibo, Tencent which owns Wechat, Baidu, and Alibaba .

Chinese laws dictate that rumour-mongers could be charged with defamation, and they face up to seven years in prison. Online posts that contain rumours visited by 5,000 internet users or are reposted more than 500 times could also incur jail sentences.

Hosted by the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission in affiliation with the official Xinhua news agency, Piyao has integrated over 40 local rumour-refuting platforms and uses artificial intelligence to identify rumours.

The platform operates under the guidance of 27 government departments, including the Central Party School, which trains rising officials, and powerful planning body the National Development and Reform Commission.

Chinese media regularly reports on - and refutes - popular rumours that circulate online, though generally only mentions topics involving issues like corrupt local officials or health scares, rather than anything more salacious about senior leaders.

President Xi Jinping said last year that China will build a "clean and clear" internet space. (Reporting by Stella Qiu and Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)

[Kapadons]

Sounds like an American Progressive wet dream.

[Deleted]

Chinese government or San Francisco tech firms?

You decide who does your censorship!

[Gaexion Ramza Beoulve]

[Kujako]

If it worked, we wouldn't know about it.

[derpkitteh]

this is where you progressives are headed.

this is what happens when you don't respect free speech.

[united]

^ fearmongering is so 1954.

[dunhildas]

^ fearmongering is so 1954.

And I respect his right to fearmonger, it's an extension of free speech.

[zenkai]

If the Chinese government is involved, you know it's bad

[Kaleredar]

this is where you progressives are headed.

this is what happens when you don't respect free speech.

Trump seems to be the only one actively criticizing the abilities of the press to call him out on his bullshit.

I'm far more concerned with the actions taken by the government (Like with China, and Trump) wanting to or actively censoring media than I am some social media site not wanting to host Infowars conspiracy theories.

Where's your outrage over that?

[PC2]

This has been happening since the beginning of civilization. Organizations with bad ideas always have to silence the good ideas that would win in a peaceful dialogue.

[niil945]

And I respect his right to fearmonger, it's an extension of free speech.

Are you acting in an official capacity as a representative of the government? No? How, exactly, is this a free speech thing then? It's not? You're uneducated on what free speech actually is? Good to know!

[Deleted]

This has been happening since the beginning of civilization. Organizations with bad ideas always have to silence the good ideas that would win in a peaceful dialogue.

An easy way to spot the real crooks is to see who wants to restrict free speech on any excuse other than preserving military secrets.

[PC2]

An easy way to spot the real crooks is to see who wants to restrict free speech on any excuse other than preserving military secrets.

Yeah. Even when it comes to classified secrets, I would say a citizen should be protected by free speech though. And it's only if the person specifically chose to sign a non-disclosure contract should they be punished for leaking.

[niil945]

Criticizing =\= censoring. I’ve seen Trump try to bandy “fake news” to get people to ignore what his opponents say, but I’ve not seen him actively push for censorship.

So you're going to quibble over the definition of censorship? Really? That's your argument? He's telling people not to believe news, to believe him. He's intentionally shouting propaganda to the world with the sole intent that he drowns out anyone who has anything bad to say about him. I've heard plenty of right wingers complain that that is tantamount to censorship if not actually label it censorship about left wing protestors. The only difference between the two acts is that you are biased in favor of one of those parties and biased against the other one.

[zorkuus]

this is where you progressives are headed.

this is what happens when you don't respect free speech.

AHAHAHA!!

The original snowflakes (conservatives) never cared about free speech unless it suited them.

[niil945]

You have to be so entrenched in political warfare to believe what you posted, is in anyway educated, correct, relevent or genuine, but just in case it’s just a lack of education:

Saying “ignore them!” Isn’t propaganda, and if what Trump tweets or says is defined as propaganda, then we have a near insurmountable amount of propaganda throughout the modern world. By definition of propaganda, every news outlet takes part in it, but we specifically ignore things like “that’s fake news” just like we ignore pissgate.

I do also enjoy being called biased by someone who unabashedly shows their bias against Trump, you could very easily point your own post at yourself, and before you bring up propaganda again, are you going to quibble over the definition of propaganda? Really?

That's called a deflection. The goal of censorship is to prevent the sharing of thoughts and ideas. Trump's actions are intended to have the exact same impact. In fact, here's the definition:

censorship
ˈsensərSHip/Submit
noun
1. the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.

Suppression takes many forms. Shouting someone down or, in this case, telling people that idolize you to ignore a source of information is, objectively, a form of censorship. Hell, right wingers claim it is all the time when they get shouted down by left wing protestors. And regarding propaganda, saying "fake news" is, in fact, propaganda. Here's a definition.

prop·a·gan·da
ˌpräpəˈɡandə/Submit
noun
1. derogatory information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

I'd love to live in this "alternate facts" reality that you live in, but unfortunately I live in the real one where words have definitions. Additionally, having a bias doesn't equivocate to making a fallacious argument. The claim is, ironically enough, fallacious. But do you think you make your bias any less apparent when you try to quibble (fallaciously, again) that Trump isn't trying to suppress information (i.e. censor) when he uses fascist tactics and propaganda "don't believe them, believe me!" to get his sheeple to not read/listen to sources of information that makes him look bad? Nevermind, don't bother answering.

[The Stormbringer]

Sounds like an American Progressive wet dream.

*speaking at the same time* Sounds like an alt-righter's wet dream.

Gasp! Jinx, no take backs!

EDIT: This is fucked up. Classic 'are your neighbors doing suspicious things? report them!' behavior.

[Martymark]

The original snowflakes (conservatives) never cared about free speech unless it suited them.

It's always weird to see liberals attempt to appropriate "snowflake" as an insult.

On topic though, with Google-Apple-Amazon-Facebook's help, I'm sure we will see China's glorious "anti-fake news app" worldwide soon enough.

[Dhrizzle]

this is where you progressives are headed.

this is what happens when you don't respect free speech.

Yes yes, if we don't let hate preachers recruit terrorists and teach bomb-making then we'll all end up in the gulag because it's impossible for free speech to be anything but an all-or-nothing issue.