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The system had until now been only partially enforced on the largeronline microblogging sites, also known in Chinese as weibo. But while authorities state the proposed rule will help fightillegal activities, the expansion of the real-name requirement isintended to remind the country's Internet users to be mindful ofwhat they post online, according to analysts. "It makes everyone, who might post something controversial, thinkmore carefully about it," said Mark Natkin, managing director forBeijing-based Marbridge Consulting. China already strictly censors online content, often by deletingInternet posts or blocking sites for anti-government information.In some cases, authorities have gone as far as to detain Chinesecitizens for spreading alleged rumors. Despite the strict censorship, China's Twitter-like microbloggingsites have still thrived as forums to voice controversial opinionsand expose sensitive news. The country's two largest microbloggingsites, Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo, both have more than 300million registered users. Thursday's new regulations come after Chinese authorities inDecember started to hold trials of real-name systems in five cities with the country'sTwitter-like microblogging sites. Those trials have served a"positive role" in fighting illegal activities, cleaning up theInternet environment, and in building an honest society,authorities said in an explanation of the proposed rules. In the case of Beijing, a city government policy announced in December dictates that microblogging platforms must requiretheir users to register with an official ID in order for them topublish posts. Users, who do not register, get read-only rights. The expansion of the real-name system means that more microbloggingsites will have to bear the cost of verifying user IDs, Natkinsaid. Thursday's proposed rules also make the sites more liable forcontrolling the content posted, he added. "I imagine this will make it difficult for the smaller players toremain in compliance," he said. "You should see a certain amount ofconsolidation in the market." But enforcement of the real-name system is expected to take timeand be difficult. For example, Sina Weibo was given until March 16by Beijing authorities to verify all its users' ID information, or block unregistered accounts from publishing posts. But in April, the site's operating company, Sina, said it failed tocomply, and that a longer amount of time was necessary to fullyimplement the real-name system without harming the user experience.As of Friday, unverified users on Sina Weibo can still publishposts. "We just don't know if this will be enforced," said Duncan Clark,chairman of consultancy firm BDA China. "I'm not sure that thegovernment wants to be drastic. I think they want to hang this overthe heads of the companies and use it to pressure them intocompliance.". I am an expert from auto-diagnostics-tools.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Auto Diagnostics Tools , Transponder Key Programmer Manufacturer, Automotive Key Programmers,and more.
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