01 March 2012

Millions of China's tweeters 'silenced by real names decree'


Chinese micro-blogging phenomenon Sina Weibo has warned that new government rules mandating the use of real names on social networks could silence at least 40 per cent of the site’s punters.

The government mandated that by 16 March all users of Twitter-like weibo sites in the country must have registered with their real names.

"We believe the requirement to convert existing users into verified users...will have a negative impact on user activity in the short term," Sina chief executive Charles Chao  said on an earnings call earwigged by Reuters. "These people will still be users, but in a very dramatic scenario, they will not be able to speak, meaning they won't be able to post messages."

The government’s clampdown on Twitter-like sites remains a problem, however. It claims the reason is to prevent the spread of “harmful rumours”, but more often that should be taken as a euphemism for anything which may challenge political and social norms.


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