Chinese authorities have urged Chinese websites to take part in creating a cleaner internet, resulting in 29 prominent websites to pledge for improved management of user comments.
In a meeting coordinated by the Cyberspace Administration of China, a letter of commitment was inked by 29 website representatives, including the Xinhua News Agency, 163.com, Sohu.com and Tencent.com.
By signing the commitment letter, the participating websites guarantee that users will be using their real identification when they register, write and post comments on the major websites.
The websites also promised to urge all their users to respect the "seven bottom lines" whenever posting. These include the authenticity of information, citizen's legitimate rights, law and rules, morality, national interests, social public order and socialist systems.
In addition, the websites pledged to point out to users that posting about the 18 categories of information that go against the country's constitution is prohibited. National secrets leakage, ethnic discrimination instigation and jeopardizing national security are among the prohibited categories.
Those who post against the policies will be given a warning, suspended from posting further content or may have their accounts deleted. If the published information is suspected to be criminal, the user responsible may undergo judicial investigation.
"The management of posts and comments in line with the law concerns the guidance of online public opinion," said Ren Xianliang, CAC deputy director.
Ren said that the websites hold the responsibility of checking and moderating the comments and posts of their users.
Ren also mentioned that in other foreign websites, there are specific rules and regulations regarding online content release, and that these rules are emphasized to website users.