Cyberspace Administration of China
国家互联网信息办公室
AbbreviationCAC
Formation5 May 2011 (2011-05-05)
TypeGovernmental
Headquarters11 Chegongzhuang Street, Xicheng District, Beijing
Director
Zhuang Rongwen
Parent organization
Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission
SubsidiariesChina Internet Investment Fund
Websitewww.cac.gov.cn
Cyberspace Administration of China
Simplified Chinese国家互联网信息办公室
Traditional Chinese國家互聯網信息辦公室
Literal meaningState Internet Information Office

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC; 国家互联网信息办公室) is the national internet regulator and censor of the People's Republic of China.

The agency was initially established in 2011 by the State Council as the State Internet Information Office (SIIO), a subgroup of the State Council Information Office (SCIO). In 2014, the SIIO was renamed in English as the Cyberspace Administration of China, and transformed into the executive arm of the newly established Central Leading Group for Cybersecurity and Informatization of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which was promoted to the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission in 2018.

The CAC's current director is Zhuang Rongwen, who concurrently serves as a Deputy Head of the CCP's Central Propaganda Department

History

On 5 May 2011, the State Council approved the establishment of the State Internet Information Office (SIIO). The SIIO was initially a subgroup of the State Council Information Office (SCIO), which was an external name of the External Propaganda Office (EOP) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The first SIIO director was Wang Chen, who was also the director of the SCIO.[1] Though initially a nameplate of the SCIO, SIIO soon gained full-time staff.[2]

Reforms in February 2014 led to the creation of the Central Leading Group for Cybersecurity and Informatization of the CCP. The SIIO was transformed to become the external name of the Central Leading Group's general office.[2] It additionally changed its name in English to the Cyberspace Administration of China, while its Chinese name stayed the same.[1]

Lu Wei, who was the head of CAC until 2016, was previously the head of the Beijing CCP Committee's Propaganda Department, and oversaw the Internet Management Office, a "massive human effort" that involved over 60,000 Internet propaganda workers and two million others employed off-payroll. It was this experience that assisted CCP general secretary Xi Jinping in selecting Lu as the head of the CAC.[3]

Further reforms in February 2018 upgraded the Central Leading Group to the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission (CACC), with the CAC staying as the executive arm of the commission.[1]

Structure

The Cyberspace Administration of China and the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission of the CCP, its executive arm, are one institution with two names.[4][5][6] The CAC is involved in the formulation and implementation of policy on a variety of issues related to the internet in China. It is under direct jurisdiction of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, a party institution subordinate to the CCP Central Committee.[7] The Director of both the state and party institutions is Zhuang Rongwen,[8] who serves concurrently as a Deputy Head of the CCP's Central Propaganda Department.[9]

The CAC includes the following departments: an Internet Security Emergency Command Center, an Agency Service Center, and an Illegal and Unhealthy Information Reporting Center.[10] Unlike most other Chinese administrative agencies, the CAC does not regularly publish information about its organizational structure, structure, budget, duties as well as its personnel arrangements, except for brief biographies of its director and deputy directors.[1]

The CAC is the majority owner of the China Internet Investment Fund, which has golden share ownership stakes in technology firms such as ByteDance, Weibo Corporation, SenseTime, and Kuaishou.[11][12] The CAC additionally organizes the World Internet Conference.[13]

Role

The CAC is the national internet regulation and censorship agency in China.[14][15][16][17] Its functions include rulemaking, administrative licensing and punishment activisties.[1] Among the areas the CAC regulates include usernames on the Chinese Internet, the appropriateness of remarks made online, virtual private networks, the content of Internet portals, and much more.

The initial powers and legal basis of the CAC came from a 2014 authorization by the State Council.[1] According to the Cybersecurity Law passed in 2016, "state cybersecurity and information departments", generally regarded to refer to the CAC, have the authority to plan and coordinate cybersecurity and related regulation with other regulatory agencies with overlapping or complementary jurisdiction.[18] The Date Security Law passed in 2021 tasked CAC with online data security and export of important data, while the Personal Information Protection Law passed in 2021 granted CAC with powers for planning, coordinating and supervising personal information protection work, retaliating its authority over control of personal information overseas.[1]

Since its founding in 2011, CAC had the authority to issue punitive orders, including imposing fines, license revocations, and business closures. Since 2017, the CAC has also been publishing legally-binding departmental rules (部门规章), issued by State Council administrative agencies.[1]

The CAC maintains some censorship functions, including issuing directives to media companies in China. After a campaign to arrest almost 200 lawyers and activists in China, the CAC published a directive saying that "All websites must, without exception, use as the standard official and authoritative media reports with regards to the detention of trouble-making lawyers by the relevant departments."[19] The CAC has also been given the responsibility for reviewing the security of devices made by foreign countries.[20][21]

Policies

Censorship

In 2015, the CAC was also responsible for chasing down Internet users and web sites that published "rumors" following an explosion in the port city of Tianjin. Such rumors included claims that blasts killed 1,000 people, or that there was looting, or leadership ructions as a result of the blast.[22] The same year, the CAC debuted a song that Paul Mozur of The New York Times called "a throwback to revolutionary songs glorifying the state." The song included the lines: “Unified with the strength of all living things, Devoted to turning the global village into the most beautiful scene” and “An Internet power: Tell the world that the Chinese Dream is uplifting China.”[23] The efforts of the CAC have been linked with a broader push by the Xi Jinping administration, characterized by Xiao Qiang, head of China Digital Times, as a "ferocious assault on civil society."[19]

In May 2020, the CAC announced a campaign to "clean up" online political and religious content deemed "illegal."[24]

In July 2020, CAC commenced a three-month censorship action on We-Media in China.[25]

In December 2020, CAC removed 105 apps, including that of Tripadvisor, from China's app stores that were deemed "illegal" in a move to "clean up China's internet".[26]

A 2020 investigation by ProPublica and The New York Times found that CAC systematically placed censorship restrictions on Chinese media outlets and social media to avoid mentions of the COVID-19 outbreak, mentions of Li Wenliang, and "activated legions of fake online commenters to flood social sites with distracting chatter".[27]

In 2021, CAC launched a hotline to report online comments against the Chinese Communist Party, including comments which it deemed "historical nihilism."[28][29] In 2022, CAC published rules that mandate that all online comments must be pre-reviewed before being published.[30][31]

During the 2022 COVID-19 protests in China, the CAC directed companies such as Tencent and ByteDance to intensify their censorship efforts.[32][33]

In January 2023, CAC ordered any content displaying "gloomy emotions" to be censored during Lunar New Year celebrations as part of its "Spring Festival internet environment rectification" campaign.[34]

In December 2023, CAC launched a crackdown on content "spreading wrong views on marriage."[35]

Artificial intelligence

In April 2023, CAC proposed rules that content produced by artificial intelligence "must reflect the core values of socialism."[36] In July 2023, CAC announced a licensing requirement for generative artificial intelligence systems.[37]

Cooperation with Russia

Since at least 2017, CAC has cooperated with Russia's principal internet regulator and censor, Roskomnadzor.[38]

Cyber attacks

The CAC has been accused of assisting in cyber attacks against visitors to Chinese websites. The anti-censorship group GreatFire.org provided data and reports showing man-in-the-middle attacks against major foreign web services, including iCloud, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google. The attack would have required the ability to "tap into the backbone of the Chinese Internet."[39]

Gibson Research Corporation attributed some of the attacks against GitHub to the CAC's operations. In the attack, ads hosted on Baidu were able to leverage computers visiting from outside China, redirecting their traffic to overload the servers of GitHub. "The tampering takes places someplace between when the traffic enters China and when it hits Baidu's servers," Gibson wrote. "This is consistent with previous malicious actions and points to the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) being directly involved..."[40]

Online access for minors

In November 2019, CAC imposed a curfew on online gaming for minors. The restrictions included banning children under 18 from gaming between 10 p.m and 8 a.m. In addition to that, these children were restricted to only 90 minutes of online gaming on weekdays and 3 hours on weekends and holidays.[41] Extra restrictions were imposed on spending where 8 to 16 year old gamers were allowed to spend 200 yuan (£22, $29) per month while 16 to 18 year old only 400 yuan per month.[41]

In August 2023, CAC proposed regulations to curb perceived internet addiction on minors. These regulations would limit minors between the ages of 16 and 18 to only 2 hours of mobile usage per day although they can be bypassed with permission from parents.[42] Children under the age of 18 will be restricted from accessing the internet between 10 p.m and 6 a.m[43] whereas children under age 8 will be allowed only 8 minutes a day.[43] CAC says that online platforms will be responsible for the execution of the law if passed although the specific penalties were not disclosed in the event of failure to comply.[42] The proposal is open to public feedback [43] until September 2, 2023.[42]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Horsley, Jamie P. (8 August 2022). "Behind the Facade of China's Cyber Super-Regulator". DigiChina. Stanford University. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
  2. 1 2 Lulu, Jichang; Jirouš, Filip; Lee, Rachel (2021-01-25). "Xi's centralisation of external propaganda: SCIO and the Central Propaganda Department" (PDF). Sinopsis. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-11-20. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  3. ↑ Cairns, Christopher Marty (2017). "China's Weibo Experiment: Social Media (Non-) Censorship and Autocratic Responsiveness". doi:10.7298/X41Z42JR. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ↑ Fedasiuk, Ryan (January 12, 2021). "Buying Silence: The Price of Internet Censorship in China". Jamestown Foundation. Archived from the original on 2021-01-13. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  5. ↑ "Cyberspace Administration of China launches official website", The State Council of the People's Republic of China, 31 Dec 2014. Archived 2020-03-11 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ Bandurski, David (7 May 2017). "Web of Laws: How China's new Cyberspace Administration is securing its grip on the internet". Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  7. ↑ Caughey, AJ; Lu, Shen (March 11, 2022). "How the CAC became Chinese tech's biggest nightmare". Protocol. Archived from the original on March 18, 2022. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  8. ↑ Gan, Nectar (September 20, 2018). "Cyberspace controls set to strengthen under China's new internet boss". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on April 23, 2021. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  9. ↑ "庄荣文任中央网信办主任 徐麟不再担任". People's Daily. 2018-08-01. Archived from the original on 2020-02-22.
  10. ↑ "中央网信办所属事业单位面向社会公开招聘-新华网". Xinhua News Agency. Archived from the original on 2015-10-24. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  11. ↑ "China's communist authorities are tightening their grip on the private sector". The Economist. 2021-11-18. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 2021-11-22. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  12. ↑ McGregor, Grady (April 2, 2023). "Golden Grip". The Wire China. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
  13. ↑ Bandurski, David (July 14, 2022). "Taking China's Global Cyber Body to Task". China Media Project. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  14. ↑ Cheung, Jennifer (14 July 2015). "China's 'great firewall' just got taller". openDemocracy. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  15. ↑ Yu, Sophie; Goh, Brenda (2020-11-13). "China drafts rules to govern its booming livestreaming sales industry". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2020-12-10. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
  16. ↑ "China orders Baidu to clean up low-brow content". CNBC. Reuters. 2020-04-08. Archived from the original on 2020-12-11. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
  17. ↑ "Chinese forum exposes cracks in the internet that could splinter wide open". Radio France Internationale. 2020-11-24. Archived from the original on 2020-11-29. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
  18. ↑ "Cyber security in China" (PDF). Norton Rose Fulbright. July 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-04.
  19. 1 2 Qiang, Xiao (September 18, 2015). "Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) Hearing: Urging China's President Xi Jinping to Stop State-Sponsored Human Rights Abuses" (PDF). CECC. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  20. ↑ Mozur, Paul; Perlez, Jane (2016-05-16). "China Quietly Targets U.S. Tech Companies in Security Reviews". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2020-01-16. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  21. ↑ Wang, Yifan (2020-04-27). "China Toughens Procurement Rules for Tech Equipment". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 2020-04-27. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  22. ↑ "China Cracks Down on Websites Accused of Spreading 'Rumors' About the Tianjin Blast". VICE News. 2015-08-17. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  23. ↑ "China's Internet Censorship Anthem Is Revealed, Then Deleted". Sinosphere Blog. 2015-02-12. Archived from the original on 2015-09-08. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
  24. ↑ "The State Cyberspace Administration of the People's Republic of China launched the 2020 "Qinglang" special action for a period of 8 months" (in Chinese). People's Daily. May 22, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-05-31. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
  25. ↑ Yu, Junjie (29 July 2020). "To safeguard national security, it is time for China to build up nuclear deterrent". Xinhua News Agency. Archived from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  26. ↑ Soo, Zen (December 9, 2020). "China orders removal of 105 apps, including TripAdvisor". Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  27. ↑ Zhong, Raymond; Mozur, Paul; Krolik, Aaron; Kao, Jeff (December 19, 2020). "Leaked Documents Show How China's Army of Paid Internet Trolls Helped Censor the Coronavirus". ProPublica. Archived from the original on December 19, 2020. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  28. ↑ Cadell, Cate (2021-04-11). "China launches hotline for netizens to report 'illegal' history comments". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2021-04-13. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  29. ↑ Costigan, Johanna M. (September 23, 2022). "China's War on History Is Growing". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  30. ↑ Yang, Zeyi (June 18, 2022). "Now China wants to censor online comments". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  31. ↑ "China revises rules to regulate online comments". Reuters. 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  32. ↑ Lin, Liza (Dec 1, 2022). "China Clamps Down on Internet as It Seeks to Stamp Out Covid Protests". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
  33. ↑ Davidson, Helen (2022-12-02). "China brings in 'emergency' level censorship over zero-Covid protests". The Guardian. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  34. ↑ Hui, Mary (January 19, 2023). "China's internet censors are gearing up for the Lunar New Year covid surge". Quartz. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  35. ↑ Qi, Liyan; Lu, Shen (2024-01-02). "China Is Pressing Women to Have More Babies. Many Are Saying No". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2024-01-02.
  36. ↑ Bandurski, David (April 14, 2023). "Bringing AI to the Party". China Media Project. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
  37. ↑ "China to lay down AI rules with emphasis on content control, Financial Times reports". Reuters. 2023-07-11. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  38. ↑ Belovodyev, Daniil; Soshnikov, Andrei; Standish, Reid (2023-04-05). "Leaked Files Show China And Russia Sharing Tactics On Internet Control, Censorship". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  39. ↑ "An Open Letter to Lu Wei and the Cyberspace Administration of China | GreatFire.org". en.greatfire.org. Archived from the original on 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
  40. ↑ Gibson Research Corporation (March 31, 2015). "Security Now! #501" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on September 6, 2015.
  41. 1 2 "Video game addiction: China imposes gaming curfew for minors". BBC News. 2019-11-06. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
  42. 1 2 3 Weatherbed, Jess (2023-08-02). "Kids in China face harsh restrictions on internet and mobile use". The Verge. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
  43. 1 2 3 "Tech shares fall as China mulls child smartphone limits". BBC News. 2023-08-03. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
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