FRIDAY, JAN 4 (News Locale) - Not withstanding the fact that China has been fast emerging as a major global player, authorities in the country on Thursday announced a new set of regulations that have further tightened the state’s grip on Internet use. 

In a communiqué issued in the New Year China has categorically banned the use of Internet video by the public as well as private companies. Henceforth, only the government and the state-run companies would be allowed broadcast of videos on the Web.

Even as the move has raised questions over the fate of Google’s YouTube and other video service providers in China like Tudou.com, the government has clearly mentioned that from now on all online video sites need to acquire government consent to broadcast video material on the Internet.

According to the new regulations, scheduled to be effective from January 31, “Those who provide Internet video services should insist on serving the people, serve socialism ... and abide by the moral code of socialism.”

Thus from January 31, all applicants for Internet broadcasting licenses must be government-run entities. No Web site would be allowed to offer material that promotes sex, violence, and gambling, religious cults or reveals state secrets.

Incidentally, China, which is the world's second-largest Internet user market, has already blocked Amnesty International and other organizations’ websites and also banned online promotion of drugs to treat sexually transmitted diseases. Even Google Inc., proprietor of the world's most popular search engine, has been compelled to exclude links to anti-government sites on its pages in China.

Meanwhile, officials of Chinese video-sharing sites, who spoke on the condition of anonymity and with caution, revealed the government move was not entirely unexpected and was likely have a much greater bearing on new entrants to the market like Google’s popular YouTube that has yet to formally register in China.

They, however, opined that the smaller providers were unlikely to be unaffected by the new government rule. Internet service providers in China have already begun to examine all videos uploaded onto their sites for pornographic or politically rebellious content to avoid attracting the wrath of the censors.
 

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