cyberspace Photo:VCG

China's cyberspace authorities announced that they had addressed nearly 1.2 million items of illegal and malicious information and handled more than 160,000 accounts or groups that violated  regulations during a recent special campaign. 

Among the non-compliant accounts and groups, more than 8,500 were handled as they tried to provoke conflicts among fans of actors starring films that were released during the Spring Festival season, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) announced on Wednesday.

These accounts and groups engaged in unruly online behaviors with authorities stepping in to control online comments over concerning issues. They also guided fans to create fake box offices for certain films, according to the CAC.

The CAC had also cleaned 7,900 items of information and 407 accounts that had tried to glorify an influencer's prison experience to sell products online.

In January, the CAC launched a rectification campaign targeting the network environment and vowed to crack down on unscrupulous online influencers including those who show off their experiences in jail and glorify prison life. 

The move followed after media revealed that some influencers use their prison life to form an encouraging image that they had rectified their errors and were trying hard to earn their living in order to attract followers and sell products. 

More than 140,000 items of misinformation dealt with during the Spring Festival special campaign are related to epidemic, emergency and economy. Another 40,000 are short videos containing fake stories, the CAC said.

Anther 34,000 items of misinformation, 3,000 accounts and 280 live-streaming sessions were punished for inducing juveniles to smoking and alcohol consumption, deliberately making fun of juveniles and helping juveniles deal with the addiction prevention system, according to the CAC.

The CAC also dealt with about 200,000 items of misinformation that advocate online gambling and canceled 2,800 related accounts and delivered related clues and suspects to the public security authorities. 

Global Times