Chinese authorities ask two online platforms to remove harmful content

In China, the State Administration of Radio and Television (SART) ordered news aggregator platform Jinri Toutiao and live streaming website Kuaishou to remove hosted content that was ‘vulgar, violent, gory, pornographic and harmful’. The two platforms were also asked to close the accounts of the users who uploaded such content, and not to allow new accounts to be opened until existing ones are ‘thoroughly checked’. The authority, cited by China Daily, also claimed that the two platforms were broadcasting video programmes without having a proper license. Moreover, SART stated that website operators are responsible for examining ‘broadcasted programmes’, and they are deemed accountable if they allow ‘illegal content to be broadcast’.