It is now illegal to not use real names on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in China.
China demands that users signing up for a social media profile mandatory use their real names rather than pseudo names or aliases to be able to eliminate fake accounts. There has been many fake accounts in the social media community impersonating public figures, with this fact, the Chines government has issued new rules that further and outlaw anonymity on social media networks, blogs, forums, and instant messaging environments, PC World reported.
The act was announced on Feb. 4, Wednesday, which is one of the strings of government rules that has to do with online censorship in China.
"Some have impersonated a person's identity to infringe on their rights,Some have been used to impersonate famous people, including foreign heads of state such as 'Putin', 'Obama,'" the regulator said in an online posting.
To be able to ban fake accounts, users will need to use their real names to be able to join social groups, forums, and other internet services. Profiles should contain the real photos of the account owner, otherwise when found containing illegal or unhealthy information it shall be banned and deleted, according to Wall Street Journal.
The new regulatory rule will commence on March 1, and will ban nine username categories including anything that has to do to harm national security, incites ethnic discrimination or hatred, involves national secrets, or anything that harms national unity.
The username "chaos" had become a very serious problem on the Chines online community. Chine News service reported that fake accounts have polluted the internet ecology, seriously violated the core social values, and harmed the interest of the people.