Official warns mobile Internet against 'blood-tainted clicks'

BEIJING - An official with China's Internet regulator warned mobile Internet operators not to seek profits by spreading harmful information.

Peng Bo, deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, said previous cases of media reports hyping up bloody attacks on children or copycat suicides to earn click rates are believed to have incited malicious imitators.

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"We should never seek such 'blood-tainted' clicks," Peng said at a conference on promoting rule of law in mobile Internet regulation.

Peng said the Chinese government will support mobile Internet development with great effort but warned business operators to practice the socialist core values and should not spread information that violates the country's Constitution or contents that undermine national security, national unity or social stability.

Content that runs counter to the country's religious policies or those that advocates cults, porn, violence, terrorism and other crimes are also prohibited, Peng said.

Moreover, the official urged the operators to keep a close eye on insulting and defamatory information that infringes citizens' legitimate rights.

Peng revealed China is planning to draft or enact a series of laws and regulations related to cyberspace administration, including legislation regarding telecommunication, cyberspace security, e-commerce and personal information protection as well as a regulation on minor protection in cyberspace.

Figures from the China Internet Network Information Center showed that China's netizen population reached 632 million by the end of June, and mobile Internet users has totaled 527 million.

Peng said the mobile Internet is developing at an unprecedented speed and involved in almost every part of ordinary people's lives.

It has also generated problems such as spam, privacy infringement and security concerns which must not be neglected, he said

Peng urged implementation of requirements on rule of law in a key decision approved at a recent meeting of the Communist Party of China in the cyberspace administration.

Representatives of major Chinese mobile Internet operators, including news websites, mobile application stores, microblogging and mobile messaging service providers, attended the conference.