The Chinese Communist Party has incorporated the control of online speech into the social “stability maintenance” system, using it as a tool. Recently, propaganda departments in provinces like Henan have held meetings related to internet management. In these meetings, officials from the propaganda department and cyberspace administration verbally emphasized phrases like “social stability” and “political security,” indicating that ensuring online security is now the primary requirement for stability maintenance.
Authorities in the Chinese Communist Party continue to tighten their control over the internet. Multiple sources familiar with the operation of local propaganda systems have revealed to Epoch Times that over the past six months, propaganda departments in various regions have frequently issued verbal notifications to strengthen public opinion guidance, ensure community stability, and safeguard political security. They are cracking down harshly on content deemed as “maliciously smearing the government” and are providing guidance to prevent the dissemination of information related to social emergencies by internet users.
A local official in Henan, Liu Di (pseudonym), who is familiar with the meeting arrangements, told reporters, “The meeting required a closer focus on online discussion forums, social platforms, and live streaming content, categorizing and recording accounts with high-frequency postings.” He mentioned that the meeting was simultaneously held in multiple counties and cities, with attendees from propaganda, cyberspace, and public security systems.
Mr. Zhang, an operator of a short video platform in Yantai, disclosed to reporters that recently, platforms such as Douyin and WeChat video have added new sensitive word databases. “I found that some vocabulary was classified as prohibited without prior notice. Comments containing related words are immediately deleted, and the number of sensitive phrases is increasing. A netizen has been arrested for cursing the police during a live broadcast.” Some internet users have complained in chat groups that certain topics are instantly blocked after discussing them, with the message “temporarily unavailable” displayed on the page.
On December 3, the Cyberspace Administration of China reported on the progress of the one-month-long “Clean and Rectify the Anomalies in Live Streaming Rewards” campaign. Platforms were instructed to investigate vulgar group broadcasts, false personas, and behaviors that induce minors to give rewards. The report stated that over 73,000 live rooms and more than 24,000 accounts were dealt with, and 28 typical cases were publicized.
A content reviewer for Douyin named Xiao Hu told reporters that the platform’s interface has received multiple verbal requests in recent months, involving the deletion time frame for comments, updating sensitive words, and tracking user login records. He mentioned that the number of automatically graded items has increased, with new monitoring fields appearing in the backend. “Our workload has also increased, with many colleagues checking the backend even during lunch. Everyone must carefully review abnormal accounts automatically reported by the system and take immediate action.”
Xiao Hu explained that their approach to dealing with violations is straightforward: “We either suspend the account for a week or longer, or permanently ban it.”
In the past six months, the Chinese authorities have launched wave after wave of so-called “clean-up” actions on the internet, aiming to comprehensively suppress dissenting opinions and emotions of netizens. Mr. Fu, a platform operator, stated that the platform’s backend “regularly sends screenshots of comments, topic lists, and live segments during fixed daily periods. The system requires initial judgments to be made within minutes, and the number of contents classified as sensitive has significantly increased.”
A media reporter in Zhengzhou told this website, “Recently, the president and chief editor went to the propaganda department for a meeting, requesting news platforms to disable the comment section when posting high-attention articles. Without online comments, there would be no public opinion online. I have also heard that other platforms are required to submit daily records of key topic changes, public sentiment trends, and communication channels.”
Since 2025, the Cyberspace Administration of China has launched at least 10 specialized “clean-up” campaigns, including the Spring Festival Internet Environment Rectification in January, series of targeted actions in February, combating malicious marketing anomalies in the short video domain in April, combating the misuse of AI technology, optimizing the business network environment focusing on combating enterprise internet “blackmouth” behaviors in May, mid-July initiation of the Summer Youth Internet Environment Rectification campaign, a campaign to combat the dissemination of false information by self-media, a campaign targeting the incitement of negative emotions in September, the crackdown on irregularities in network live streaming rewards in October, and the rectification of the web environment during the 15th Games and Special Olympic Games in November.
It is understood that since the 2010s, the Chinese Communist Party has been promoting institutionalized internet governance, forming a cross-departmental structure involving the Central Cyberspace Administration, local cyberspace systems, propaganda outlets, and public security agencies. Content management has expanded from text to short videos, live streaming, social media interactions, and algorithm recommendations. Multiple rounds of purification actions cover reward ecosystems, ranking management, minor protection, and hot topics. In recent years, verbal commands have increased, making platforms a crucial execution link in the stability maintenance system. With internet security integrated into the stability maintenance system, user behavior records are continuously archived, and the shrinking trend of online speech space is further evident.