China is making new rules to crack down on apps that affect public opinion

The whole world is aware of the civil rights situation in China. Now this country’s cyber regulatory body has issued a draft of rules governing mobile apps. In this, the need for security review of those apps has been mentioned, whose actions may affect public opinion. The proposed rules are part of a campaign by China’s Cyberspace Administration (CAC) over the past year to increase surveillance of the country’s tech companies. According to a Reuters report, the public has been given until January 20 to respond to the draft rules.

The draft rules state that app providers will require a security assessment before launching “new technology, apps and functions” that will affect the public. The CAC has not said this about any particular app, nor has it told about the security assessment framework. It is only stated that all should be done as per the national regulations.

The regulator has said that the proposed rules will apply to “text, picture, voice, video and other information production” as well as instant messaging, news dissemination, forum communities, livestreaming and e-commerce. The regulator has said that mobile app providers should not conduct activities that endanger national security or compel users to share non-essential personal information. It has also been said that the news app has to be licensed to get permission to publish news.

In the last one year, China has also tightened the rules in the sectors from gaming to real estate and education. CAC has run many such campaigns, in which the tech sector has been targeted. On Tuesday itself, the CAC had announced that it would implement two new rules. Under the first rule, platform companies with more than one million users have to go through a security assessment before listing abroad. This rule will be effective in February. Under the second rule, the algorithm use of companies is to be controlled. This rule will be effective from March. The Chinese government keeps on coming up with such rules to control the rights of its citizens.