The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) on Tuesday said it has urged key web platforms in China to clear more than 86,000 records involving false and misleading information on enterprises amid intensified efforts of Chinese authorities to improve the business environment.
The move highlights China’s intensified efforts to stabilize the economy through the implementation of policies while striving to optimize the business environment, experts said.
The CAC said on Tuesday that platform companies such as WeChat, Sina Weibo and Douyin have been urged to verify and handle records of misleading online information related to enterprises in a swift move to protect the online business environment.
So far, these platforms have cleared more than 86,000 records involving false information concerning enterprises and have dealt with 8,425 accounts in accordance with the law.
False information includes maliciously aggregating negative information about companies to seek illegal gains, spreading false information about enterprises, impersonating and imitating the names of other companies, and fabricating topics about the personal lives of entrepreneurs. Regional discrimination and stigmatization involving enterprises has also been addressed.
The CAC said it will continue to focus on issues that disrupt the online business environment and urge web platforms to expand their reporting channels. It will also enhance management of problematic platforms and accounts.
In a separate move to improve market order, the traffic regulatory authorities in Shenzhen, South China’s Guangdong Province, summoned two leading ride-hailing platforms — Didi Chuxing and Gaode — for talks on suspicion of disrupting the fair competition market order and affecting industry safety and stability, according to the official WeChat account of the Public Transport Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality.
The two companies were ordered to immediately rectify non-compliant behavior, jointly maintain the market order of fair competition, and jointly create a good environment for the healthy development of the online ride-hailing industry.
The moves demonstrated the Chinese government’s efforts to optimize the business environment and set up green and red lights for the platform economy to ensure its healthy development, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
These moves will promote a clean online environment, restore market order and ensure the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises, thereby improving their medium- to long-term prospects, Wang said.
These moves also echo the recent efforts of Chinese authorities to shore up the private economy, Wang added.
The National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner, and other departments jointly unveiled a package of 28 measures to boost the development of the private economy on Tuesday, including implementing targeted measures to optimize the business environment.
It aims to accelerate the construction of a rule of law-based business environment, promote the integrated development of key regional businesses, support enterprises in difficulty and increase credit support to small businesses.
The measures stressed the need to promote the sound development of the platform economy and continuously introduce “green light” investment cases for platform enterprises.
(Global Times)
