Source: Flipboard
Reports suggest that many Chinese social media outlets would soon showcase user locations based on internet protocol (IP) addresses. Platforms who would follow this are Quora-like Zhihu and the Duoyin, the domestic version of TikTok. They made the announcement on Friday, April 15, adding that users would not have the option to disable the feature.
Though not directed by the law, the platforms stated that the step is meant to control “netizens from pretending to be locals and spreading rumour.” TikTok owner, ByteDance’s news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, Duoyin rival Kuaishou, and lifestyle community Xiaohongshu implemented the change. They said locations would be visible on their profiles. Whereas, Zhihu said user location would be available beside each post made. Weibo has been displaying locations on user profiles since last month. They cited reasons of fake information related to current events such as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
In the past year, China central government has been coming forward in online content with progressing regulatory oversight. However, there is no such official regulation that needs platforms to necessarily showcase locations of users. Internet watchdog Cyber Administration of China mentioned in March that the campaign to clear online problems including clearing up rumours.
What would the platforms exactly show?
They mentioned that only the user’s province in China would be visible, and if the the IP address shows a location overseas. They specified that the entire IP address given by internet provider for connections, would not be visible. The country has witnessed an outpouring of rage and frustration expressed on internet recently with the rise of Covid-19 cases. Cities, especially China have been under lockdowns, with China seeing over 10,000 new cases every day for the past few weeks.
People visibly complained about food shortages and supply chains in cities like Changchun and Shanghai. The watchdog informed websites to fight the spreading of rumours to tackle. Publicly displayed locations would soon include users of some of the most populous online communities in the country. Douyin had reportedly 600 million daily active users, with Kauishou and Weibo with 323 and 250 million respectively last year. Importantly, this step marks the biggest move since 2017 to introduce more openness to user identities online.
There have been mixed reactions to the news such Weibo user Haoyu saying it could aid in lessening rumours while protecting privacy as location is not specific. However, another user mentioned that would be better if users could have the option to disable the function if they want to.
