Code Name: Clean Internet 2014, What’s Happening?

According to the latest news, On April 11, at least 10 staffs in Sina Book were taken away by the police. Among them were several editors who were then held in custody. Pornographic novels were included every time in the “Sweeping against internet pornography and illegal publications”. However, this time with the intervention of the public security bureau, things become more serious. Yang Qingqi, national Chief official of the Action, said in an interview that “This time’s special operation put forward two punishment, both administrative and criminal.”

This was not unforeseen. A few days earlier, Weibo accounts of some Japanese AV actresses, including Okita Anzunashi, Toni Taiboku, have been canceled. In the afternoon of April 24, it was exposed that two channels of Sina, Book and Video, are under suspicion of broadcasting pornographic information, which is illegal in China.

According to Xinhua News,

on April 16 and 23, Peking General Brigade of Cultural Market Administrative Law Enforcement delivered “Beijing cultural market administrative law enforcement hearing notice([2014]1,2,3)” to Beijing Sina Internet Information Service Co. Itd.(shortened as Sina Company) . We decide to withdraw the “Internet Publishing Permission” and “Information Dissemination Permission of Audio-Visual Programs” of Sina Company, terminating its service in Internet Publishing and Internet Dissemination of Audio-Visual Programs. Meanwhile, Sina Company should pay a penalty of large amount, and its staffs who are involved in the crime will be investigated by the Public Security Bureau.

In face of the negative news, Sina Techology responded quickly by posting an apologetic statement on its front page. The contents are as follows:

Today, the problem of some contents in Sina Book and Sina Video program was exposed by media. We were deeply distressed by the fact, and we want to apologize sincerely to all the netizens and to the society.
Although we have been working on the contents, the supervision of some contents on Sina.com is still loose. As the most influential domestic website, we did not fulfill our responsibility to defend our territory. We were deeply ashamed.

To the harsh punishment given by the Internet authority, we will implement it with absolute graveness.

When the problem is exposed, the company set up a special rectification team almost immediately, demanding related departments and related segments to investigate and rectify thoroughly. The first thing is to deal with responsible individuals seriously. We make sure the responsible people confess to the authority and review profoundly. Second, search for the cause and draw inferences from it. We will self-regulate the contents of the whole website. Third, we will continue to rectify and reform, establishing a long-term verification mechanism to make sure this never happen again.

In the meanwhile, we are cooperating with the authority in order to individualize our rectification, while reducing our cost of related services to the minimum. At last, we ask the netizens to supervise and criticize us as usual. We are also willing to stand by the side of all the other websites in firm response and support of the nation’s “Sweeping against internet pornography and illegal publications, Clean Internet 2014” Action. Together we will build a clear and sunny Internet space.

Compared to “public warning”, “fining” and “holding people responsible”, withdrawing the licenses of Sina appears to be a shocking move to the Internet world.

Weibo was split and listed by Sina on April 17, but the punishment decision was delivered on April 16. Although the stock price of Sina Weibo raised by 19% after it came into market, but the trend will be implicated by the information exposed on April 24. When the market opened on April 24, U.S. local time, Weibo dropped by 7.49% almost immediately. By 23:50, April 24, Beijing time, the drop range is 2.61%.

The withdraw of the two license indicates that the original contents of Sina Book and the contents of Sina Video cannot be seen by the readers.

Currently, Sina Book Channel seems upright and peaceful, with only cultural news and book comments left. As for the Video Channel, the video links are already void.

This also implies that the advertising income of Book Channel and Video Channel will be severely inflicted. Sina is one of the largest domestic sports video website, the invalidation of the Audio-Visual Program License means it will be silent in this aspect as well. Meanwhile, Sina’s “picture-article-video” news structure will be missing an important segment. It’s new media service will face great challenge until the issuing of a new permission license.

Third, the other portals are not punished yet, which does not mean they are innocent. The punishment on Sina serves as a warning to them, pushing them to self-regulate their contents. We can see that the news subtitles of these portals become “clean” overnight. Similarly, network literature websites are also constraining themselves.

Forth, not only novels and videos that violate the regulations have been taken out, the supervision on game industry is also getting more strict. Xinhua News Agency reported on April 24 the decline of the online games concept stock. Now some online game companies have received notification that the roles in the game should not expose sensitive body parts. Shirts, shorts and bikinis are all denied. The heroes and heroines in the game should not have any forms of physical contact.

The supervision of game industry was pretty strict. The new regulations will certainly have negative effects on the planning, designing and plotting abilities of the game companies.

However, the resource of this information is still not confirmed.

In a nut shell, the “Clean Internet” Operation affects portal websites, network literature, videos and game industry more severely than other industries. The contents and product development will be regulated, the enthusiasm of audience will decrease, and income from channel operation and advertisement operation will decrease in a chain effect. In a year’s time, listed companies in the culture and entertainment category should be alert of stock price decline. This advice is also suitable for the investors interested in cultural industry.

Original post on Huxiu.