China steps up supervision over online health science popularization

China has stepped up supervision over online health science popularization by verifying the medical backgrounds of such content creators, requiring them to mark information sources and banning advertising of medical or healthcare products, a notice said on Friday.

The move is aimed at promoting dissemination of scientific health knowledge while preventing the spread of false and misleading information through social media, according to the notice jointly released by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the National Health Commission, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Under the notice, internet platforms are required to verify medical licenses or employment certificates of content creators. They should either work at medical institutions, or medical schools and pharmaceutical research institutes.

Existing social media accounts should complete verification procedures within two months upon receiving notifications, while newly-registered accounts are not permitted to release health popularization contents until completing verifications, the notice said.

It added that related social media accounts should mark information sources and additional information such as whether artificial intelligence technologies were used to generate contents and whether video plots were staged based on historic medical cases.

Any form of advertisements on medical services, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and health foods is prohibited from being published.

Efforts will also be made to crack down on misconducts such as offering online consultations illicitly, disseminating sexually suggestive content under the guise of sexual health education, fabricate misleading narratives to promote products and impersonating licensed physicians, according the notice.

It urged local authorities to guide online platforms to ramp up oversight of related accounts and instruct hospitals to strengthen management of online behaviors of medical workers and hand over penalties to those committing malpractices.

Market regulators will also investigate and handle violations related to illicit advertising.