China has banned internet users from posting user-generated audio/video. This is reportedly one of the few sources of information outside state-controlled media. The ban comes after a draft law was passed, granting the police censorship powers in case of natural disasters.
China has one of the most controlled internet sectors in the world, ranking only behind countries like North Korea, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Eritrea. Activists in China have been jailed for as little as a single tweet, newspaper editors have been sacked for being outspoken, and news articles deemed inappropriate by officials have been swiftly deleted.
China has been ranked by Reporters Without Borders as one of the worst countries for press freedom.
The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television said in a note, "Weibo, WeChat and other online social media are not allowed to disseminate user-generated audio or video programs about current events."
According to Duncan Clark, founder of investment advisory firm BDA China, this move is likely to weed out smaller players and make it easy for the government to exercise control over larger sites where it has greater sway.
"There has also been an explosion of live-streaming sites in recent years, and the government is keen to rein them in and assert control," he added. But the larger implications for China's already limited freedom of online speech will depend on how strongly the new rules are implemented, Clark said.
User-generated videos boomed last year, quickly running afoul of censors. According to some estimates, Weibo has more than 400 million video views each day. Weibo's CEO Charles Chao said that the company's main source of new expenses is from an increase in hosting video.
As a result of China's tight grip on the internet in the country, foreign internet companies have had to choose between censorship and access. Facebook is reportedly working on a tool that suppresses content in news feeds to avoid a seven-year ban, while Google has pulled out of China after it stopped complying with government censorship directives.