China launches drive against online extortions

China will launch a six-month campaign against online extortion, the country's cyberspace regulator said Wednesday.

Peng Bo, a deputy director of China's Cyberspace Administration, said at a Wednesday conference that they have been receiving complaints from Chinese netizens about Internet media abusing their publishing and supervision rights, allegedly extorting local governments and enterprises with negative reports.

Peng noted that some illegal websites will include "China" or "nation" or national agencies in their website names while some others will pretend to be "civil rights groups" to gain credibility.

The campaign will also target public accounts on WeChat or other social media.

In late 2014, the popular business news website of the 21st Century Business Herald was found to have received 200 million yuan ($32.1 million) from over 100 listed companies in exchange for squelching negative news.

Peng also pointed out that some PR companies are involved in deleting negative posts of their clients by bribing people from commercial websites.

In one case in 2014, Yang Xiuyu, the owner of Beijing Erma Company, received 531,200 yuan for publishing false information and helping people delete posts on the Internet. Yang was later sentenced to four years in jail.

"Similar illegal business operations receive the most complaints," Peng said. "It will be one of the main tasks in 2015 to continue cracking down on such operations, in addition to further cleaning up cyberspace."

The ministries of public security, industry and information technology as well as the country's top media watchdog will also take part in the campaign.

Meanwhile, the cyberspace watchdog will also launch a three-month campaign to monitor its own officials at all levels.

"Some officials, working at local cyberspace agencies, were found to have been in cahoots with commercial websites or PR companies," Peng said.

Gao Jianyun, a bureau-level official of the cyberspace watchdog, was investigated in April 2014 for allegedly receiving bribes in exchange for deleting online posts, Peng said.

Such measures are also in line with what President Xi Jinping said during the fifth plenary session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection that inspectors should themselves be upright before they inspect others, Zhang Xunhong, secretary of the administration's disciplinary watchdog, said at the conference.

The administration also encourages whistleblowers on violations, who will get as much as 50,000 yuan as reward.