China’s Internet regulations may be among the most extensive and restrictive in the world. At least twelve different government bureaus have some authority over the Internet, including the powerful State Council Information Office, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Information Industry, which is in charge of the licensing and registration of all Internet content providers.
28 In 2001, Human Rights Watch estimated that the Chinese government had issued more than sixty sets of government Internet regulations;
29 many new regulations have been issued since then, all of them increasing government control. The extensive national-level framework is only part of the picture: the national-level regulations coexist with an unknown number of provincial- and local-level implementing regulations, guidelines, policy documents, and other instruments that have legal impact. Regulations in recent years have focused on, among other things, expanding government censorship and control, both to new technology, such as cellphones,
30 and to new mediums of expression, like blogs.
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Although not all regulations are enforced against every possible individual or entity arguably in violation of the rules––to do so would be almost impossible, given the breadth and vagueness of certain provisions––nonetheless the legal framework does have a significant and immediate impact on the amount of information available online, and the extent to which the Internet can be used as a vehicle for free expression by individual Chinese.
One of the most recent sets of regulations to be issued by the government is the Provisions on the Administration of Internet News Information Services (Provisions on News Information Services), issued jointly by the State Council Information Office (SCIO) and the Ministry of Information Industry in September 2005. The Provisions cover the creation and management of news websites, and are the first new regulations on news websites since the issuance of the Interim Provision on the Administration of Internet Web Sites Engaged in News Posting Operations in 2000.
32 Because the Provisions make use of a variety of control methods, including registration requirements, external government supervision, broad-based content restrictions, and administrative penalties for violation of any part of the Provisions, they are fairly representative. The Provisions also make repeated reference to restrictions found in other relevant regulations, thus fully integrating China’s Internet law and assuring that virtually all restrictions apply to all situations.
In the first section, the Provisions on News Information Services make clear that the purpose of news websites is not to inform the public of the facts, but instead to “serve socialism” and to “safeguard the nation’s interests and the public interest.”
33 News with content that does not “serve socialism” is banned.
34 News websites are “encouraged” to disseminate news that is “healthy” and “civilized,” and that will “rais(e) the quality of the nation.”
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The key content restriction provision is Article 19, which forbids the following content:
(1) violating the basic principles as they are confirmed in the Constitution;
(2) jeopardizing the security of the nation, divulging state secrets, subverting of the national regime or jeopardizing the integrity of the nation’s unity;
(3) harming the honor or the interests of the nation;
(4) inciting hatred against peoples, racism against peoples, or disrupting the solidarity of peoples;
(5) disrupting national policies on religion, propagating evil cults and feudal superstitions;
(6) spreading rumors, disturbing social order, or disrupting social stability;
(7) spreading obscenity, inappropriate contentography, gambling, violence, terror, or abetting the commission of a crime;
(8) insulting or defaming third parties, infringing on the legal rights and interests of third parties;
(9) inciting illegal assemblies, associations, marches, demonstrations, or gatherings that disturb social order;
(10) conducting activities in the name of an illegal civil organization; and
(11) any other content prohibited by law or rules.
