路透社：中国启动新的清理互联网行动；更多的网站被屏蔽
中国官方媒体星期三说，中国已启动一项清理其互联网的行动。在这新一波当局审查行动中，有更多的外国媒体网站被屏蔽，国内社交媒体账号被封杀。
官方的新华社报道说，这项“整治”工作由中国国家网信办、工业和信息化部、公安部和市场监督总局在5月启动，将持续到今年年底。
它说，这次联合行动的重点是，对未备案或备案信息不准确的网站进行清理，对攻击网站的违法犯罪行为进行严厉打击，对违法违规网站进行处罚和公开曝光。
这项行动之前，有一系列网站和社交媒体账号被封杀和屏蔽。
几个北京没法控制的外国媒体，例如《华盛顿邮报》和《卫报》，从上周末起就没法上，加入了包括路透社在内的被屏蔽网站名单。
中国财经消息网站“华尔街见闻”（Wallstreetcn.com）星期一说，应当局的要求，他们将其网站和手机应用程序下架，但是没有说明他们违反了当局的哪些规定。
从那些发表政治敏感材料到发表财经新闻的社交媒体账号也被封。
去年11月，官方称他们关闭了9800个被认为提供敏感、恶俗和政治有害内容的新闻账户。
上海网信办星期三在一份声明中说，它和上海市场监督局约谈了百度上海分公司的负责人，批评该公司投放有恶俗内容或标题过于敏感的不道德广告。
声明说，当局责令该搜索引擎整改其广告业务，清理这些做法。声明引用百度代表的话说，该公司将会做出必要的改变。
被问到对此有何评论时，一名百度代表重复了上述声明中的说法，不愿做进一步评论。
最近几年，中国当局定期开展网络清查活动，关闭一些网站，社交媒体账户和手机应用程序。
“清理的目的不纯粹是政治性的。许多，甚至可能是多数，这些网站很可能有发送垃圾邮件、淫秽或平台已清楚地说明不想要有和不欢迎的其他内容，”澳大利亚海峡政策研究所的分析员Fergus Ryan说。
“问题是，在那些被合理清除的账号之中，有些是因为政治原因被清除的。”
由于批评电信巨头华为公司在中国受到舆论审核的科普作家方舟子说，他在星期二发现他的所有中国社交媒体账号都被封了。
生活在美国的方舟子说，一些读者告诉他他们看不到他的帖文了，他才知道发生了什么事，平台管理员不愿告诉他为什么他的账号被封。
“我的猜测是，从现在开始任何有影响力的自媒体账户都不会允许有，不管它们是不是政治性的，”方舟子在电子邮件中告诉路透社。
“自媒体”一词主要在中国社交媒体使用，指那些有原创内容但是没有正式向官方注册的独立新闻账户。
“中国互联网寒冬将至，”方舟子说。
China launches new internet cleanup campaign; more websites blocked
JUNE 12, 2019 / 4:52 AM
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has launched a campaign to clean up its internet, state media said on Wednesday, amid a fresh wave of apparent censorship by authorities that has blocked more foreign media websites and shut down domestic accounts on social media.
The “rectification” effort was launched in May by the cyberspace administration, the information technology ministry, the public security bureau and the markets regulator and will run until the end of the year, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The campaign will punish and expose websites for “illegal and criminal actions”, failing to “fulfill their obligation” to take safety measures or the theft of personal information, it added.
The campaign follows a series of shutdowns and blockages of certain websites and social media accounts.
Several foreign media beyond Beijing’s control, such as the Washington Post and The Guardian, have not been accessible online since last weekend, adding to a list of blocked sites that includes Reuters.
Online Chinese financial news publication Wallstreetcn.com said on Monday it took its website and mobile app offline at the authorities’ request, but gave no details of the rules it may have broken.
Social media accounts ranging from those publishing politically sensitive material to financial news have also been shut.
Authorities said in November they shut 9,800 accounts of news providers deemed to be posting sensational, vulgar or politically harmful content.
The Chinese internet regulator’s Shanghai office said in a statement on Wednesday that it and the markets regulator’s Shanghai office summoned representatives from Baidu Inc and criticized the firm for unethical advertising using vulgar content or overly sensational titles.
The authorities ordered the search engine operator to rectify its advertising business to eliminate such practices, according to the statement, which quoted a Baidu representative as saying the firm would make necessary changes.
When asked for comment, a Baidu representative referred to the remarks in the statement without commenting further.
In recent years, China has regularly campaigned to police its internet, shutting down websites, social media accounts and mobile apps.
“The cleaning drives are not purely political. Many, possibly even most, of those accounts were probably spam, porn or other types of content that the platforms have made clear are undesirable and unwelcome,” said Fergus Ryan, an analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
“The problem is that in among those legitimate removals are accounts that are removed for political reasons.”
Shimin Fang, a popular science writer who drew public scrutiny in China for critical comments about telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co, said he found out on Tuesday all of his Chinese social media accounts had been taken down.
Fang, who lives in the United States, said he did not know what had happened until some readers told him they could no longer find his postings and that the platform operators would not tell him why his accounts were shut down.
“My guess is that from now on any influential self-media accounts will not be allowed to exist, no matter (if) they are political or not,” Fang told Reuters in an email.
The term “self-media” is mostly used on Chinese social media to describe independent news accounts that produce original content but are not officially registered with the authorities.
“The Chinese internet winter is coming,” Fang said.
Reporting by Huizhong Wu; Additional reporting by Josh Horwitz in Shanghai; Editing by Se Young Lee, Clarence Fernandez and Frances Kerry