No hiding place for online terror
Print Edition
CHINA has launched a campaign to rid the Internet of terrorist material that has been blamed for inspiring a recent string of deadly attacks by Islamic extremists from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The move is aimed at safeguarding social stability in Xinjiang, according to a statement issued yesterday by the State Internet Information Office.
The authorities will prevent audio and video terrorist material produced overseas from being disseminated in China, delete any that is online and punish website operators who break the rules.
Internet companies are being urged to “uphold their responsibilities.”
“Terror video and audio products have become a major instigator of the high incidence of terrorist activities at present,” the statement said.
On May 22, Xinjiang saw its bloodiest day in five years when 39 people were killed in a terrorist attack in Urumqi, the regional capital.
On April 30, three people were killed and 79 injured in an attack at a railway station in the city.
In March, 29 civilians were killed and 143 injured in an attack at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming.
Police said most of the suspects seized in these cases had been encouraged to carry out terrorist activities after viewing video and audio material.
Many suspects learned how to make explosives through online tutorials. They exchanged information about explosives and propagated jihad, or holy war, via chat rooms, text messages and illegal preaching sites.
The Internet information office described this year’s situation as “especially grave” because of the rapid increase in the amount of terrorist audio and video material released by separatist groups that included the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
“These materials, which propagate jihad, terrorism and religious extremism, have been spread incessantly in China,” the statement said. “They have had a strong instigation effect and are extremely harmful.”
In 2013, the East Turkestan group, listed by the United Nations Security Council as terrorists, produced 107 pieces of terror-related audio and video material, some of which spread to China, figures from Xinjiang’s regional public security department showed.
More than 30 websites including Sina, Tencent, Baidu and Taobao have signed a commitment to delete such items.
“Fighting against online terror audio and video materials is our most important political task now,” said Zhao Tian, deputy editor-in-chief of sina.com.
The company is training its staff to recognize and delete terror-related content, she said, adding that more than 800 items had already been removed.
Zhao Cheng, editor-in-chief of Baidu, China’s leading search engine, said the company is cooperating with the police over online terror information.
President Xi Jinping called for “walls made of copper and steel” and “nets spread from the earth to the sky” to capture terrorists when he spoke at a central work conference on Xinjiang last last month.
Also last month, police launched a yearlong nationwide anti-terror operation with the focus on Xinjiang.
The Internet information office is encouraging the public to provide it with information regarding online terrorist material and is promising rewards of up to 100,000 yuan (US$16,000) for tip-offs that prove important.
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