New draft rules portend more internet censorship in China – Axios

China's internet regulator has released a new set of draft rules that, if implemented, would impose stricter censorship of comments posted to social media platforms, MIT Technology Review reports.

Why it matters: Tighter restrictions could close off what few spaces remain for Chinese people to speak their minds online.

The big picture: The Chinese government has already created one of the toughest internet censorship regimes in the world, enforced in large part by content reviewers employed by social media companies to police posts.

Details: The Cyberspace Administration of China on Friday released draft guidelines that would require closer scrutiny of comments largely ignored by censors, such as replies to comments and messages featured on the screen during livestreaming.

What to watch: If the draft rule "about mandating pre-publish reviews is to be strictly enforced which would require reading billions of public messages posted by Chinese users every day it will force the platforms to dramatically increase the number of people they employ to carry out censorship," writes MIT Technology Review's Zeyi Yang.

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New draft rules portend more internet censorship in China - Axios