Recently, the Cyberspace Administration Department of Chengdu, Sichuan Province has reported multiple cases of dealing with illegal accounts and websites as part of the ongoing “clean and clear” special operation. However, this report has sparked strong public criticism questioning the official’s neglect of duty and regulatory loopholes.
The WeChat official account “Chengdu Network Reporting” recently reported that in November, the Cyberspace Administration Department of Chengdu advanced the “clean and clear” special operation, dealing with a batch of illegal accounts and websites.
One of the highlighted cases in the Chengdu Cyberspace Administration Department’s report concerns the WeChat official account “Quanshui Village Residents’ Committee” certified by the Qionglai local street. The existence of the WeChat official account “Quanshui Village Residents’ Committee” was found to be illegally selling official documents and materials.
The report stated that the account had been inactive for a long time, leading to its unauthorized use by others, causing damage to the “credibility of party and government agencies”. Currently, the account’s related information has been deleted, and the person in charge has voluntarily canceled the account.
Some netizens, including “SevEeVc,” have questioned whether the official claim of “being unauthorized” is valid. Public opinion believes that as a grassroots party and government account certified by the authorities, the management responsibility should not be limited to just the registration and certification stage but should also include ongoing operation, permission management, and security maintenance. The account, while being unmanaged for a long period, maintained its official certification status and was eventually used for profit, reflecting the absence of regular supervision of internet assets by relevant departments.
The report also included two cases involving companies impersonating official and Southwest Jiaotong University websites, misleading the public. Netizens believe that this highlights the failures in the audit process of internet platforms and the Cyberspace Administration Department.
According to the report, the Wuhou Cyberspace Administration Department found that a WeChat official account operated by a certain education consulting limited company in the locality was suspected of falsely using the official name to register the “Youth Volunteers” account. The name and some of the content were misleading, deceiving the public. Currently, the account has been rectified.
Furthermore, the website (sw**s.cn) registered by a certain education consulting limited company in the locality was found to be impersonating the official website of Southwest Jiaotong University, misleading the public and damaging the school’s credibility. Currently, the website has been shut down.
Some netizens expressed that the WeChat official account operated by the education consulting limited company is not an official entity, but its name and content were able to “successfully mislead the public,” exposing loopholes in the name review, certification marks, and anti-counterfeiting mechanisms of internet platforms and the Cyberspace Administration Department.
In the frontend audit process of domain name registration, WeChat official account name registration, and other procedures, the appropriate oversight has not been implemented, leading to the difficulty of eliminating internet chaos at its source.