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New Chinese Policy Mandates Reviewing Every Comment on All Websites Before Publishing

The Chinese government has released a new policy that will force all websites to review and approve comments before they are posted online. The new rules were published in a document last week with the title "Provisions on the Administration of Internet Thread Commenting Services".

This will require individuals and companies running all the websites in China to hire ‘a review and editing team suitable for the scale of services’. The new comment moderators will have to check every comment before it is published. They will then have to approve it or flag any potential illegal information to China's administration.

However, this is not where it stops. Every website that allows users to comment will have to collect their real names and verify their identities before allowing them to submit comments.

It looks like the new measures are set in place following the online criticism of the Chinese government's mandatory lockdowns. This is not the first time the Chinese government has tried to regulate the internet. Last year, it passed a law that allowed minors to only play an hour of video games on weekends.

Websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and a lot more are blocked in China. A lot of companies have already exited from the country due to tight regulations. The country has also blocked Virtual Private Network (VPN) services for individuals who are trying to access restricted content.

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