"Life is short. Have an affair," Ashley Madison's tagline reads. (Photo : Reuters)
The Internet watchdog of China said that it has launched a campaign to abolish matchmaking websites of prostitution and fraud and begin to require users to provide real information on their identity.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) told that it has seen some people use different matchmaking websites to commit acts of fraud or participate in prostitution and some of those websites would leak the personal information of users or hide illegal activities.
With the new regulation, users would be required to use their real names on the matchmaking websites and those who are currently members would need to fill in their complete information online lest the account would be taken down, the CAC said.
"Whether the real name registration for the matchmaking industry would eradicate violations still needs to be tested over time but it could remind users to protect their private information when registering on these websites," said deputy secretary of the Internet Society of China, Shi Xiansheng.
Aside from matchmaking websites, the campaign also targets dating websites and WeChat public accounts that are also involved in matchmaking.
The CAC said that they will create a credit mechanism and build a database on the matchmaking websites and will blacklist those who would not follow the rules.
"Establishing a credit mechanism on the Internet requires the efforts of different departments of government to enhance the public awareness and public supervision," Shi mentioned.
A man with the surname Huang falsified his identity as a Chinese-American national when he joined a matchmaking website and swindled a woman of more than 7 million yuan ($1.12 million), according to chinanews.com on Friday.
The CAC also mentioned that they have provided a hotline for the masses to report matchmaking websites that might be involved in illegal activities.
"This campaign could improve the matchmaking industry by weeding out illegal websites or companies in China," Jiayuan.com, a dating website with more than 120 million registered users, told the Global Times Sunday.
The campaign would protect the rights of the users and provide them with more opportunities to look for their "Mr/Ms Right" on the Internet, said the website.
