China's internet watchdog has proposed a draft regulation that would require social media services and video platforms to review comments posted by users before they are published.
The new rules demand platform operators to employ a content moderation team that "matches the scale of their service", and to improve the professional quality of staff responsible for reviewing content, according to a document released on Friday by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).
The regulation would tighten existing rules, launched in 2017, that mandated companies to review user comments only under news content.
The proposed rules also specify the punishment associated with violations: operators that fail to observe the regulation face warnings, fines, and suspension of their commenting features or even the entire service.
The previous regulation only stated that "relevant authorities would take actions on service providers that violate the rules, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations".
In line with the existing rules, the draft stipulates that social media users should register with their real identities before leaving comments. It also says that users who violate the rules may be warned, barred from commenting, asked to delete their comments, or have their account suspended or deactivated.
Rules prohibiting the use of bots or human commenters to "spread information that disturbs the normal order and misleads public opinion" remain unchanged, as are provisions that say users should be "blacklisted for serious breaches of rules" and "banned from accessing the service or opening new accounts".
