China has officially changed the rules for online creators. As of October 25, influencers in the country must show real-world qualifications before posting about sensitive topics like medicine, law, education, or finance.
The new requirements were introduced by the Cyberspace Administration of China. Platforms including Douyin, Bilibili, and Weibo must now check creators credentials before their content goes live.
Creators talking about regulated subjects need proof, such as a professional license, degree, or certificate. If theyre caught talking about the serious topics, they will face a fine of up to 100,000 yuan, which is about $14,000 USD.
Influencers must clearly cite studies or data when they use them in videos. They also have to label any AI-generated material within their content. Platforms are being told to educate users on responsible sharing as part of the rollout.
how would that not violate the 1st amendment?If you pay the fine you can use the 1st as much as you want.
Sounds good on paper in reality it's another tool to push propaganda, discredit others and control oppositionI'm on the fence about this one for this reason. Medicine and law especially I'm fine with it but I'd be very suspicious of it in most other fields.
I don't trust that law. "Only professionals can talk about X" just sounds like a legal way to say "Only the approved message of the government can be stated. Anything else is illegal."If brought to the US the experts can all be decided by several independent executive agency panels that... Oh Trump just fired them all. Nvm.
Putting aside the anti-freedom side for a second, if that law got implimented in the US, the Trump admin would bend over backwards to justify how PragerU and Asmagold are qualified while actual scitentists and experts are lying for money.
Anyone who thinks we should take cues from fucking China about speech is INSANE.I guess we can continue doing nothing and keep on having our Healthcare decided by Rfk and other Joe Rogan guests.
Considering you can be self taught certain subjects, this seems classist at best.Certainly not in law, medicine, or education.
The Chinese government officially promotes woo like TCM and has publicly supported anti-medicine conspiracy theories such as claiming mRNA vaccines don't work as well as traditional vaccines and have dangerous side effecrs (because they couldn't develop their own one). This is just another law about controlling informatiom to control people's ability to promote narratives the government doesn't want. There will be nothing progressive about it, since the government is extremely conservative.In the US our politicians tell us to inject bleach, guzzle aquarium cleaner, swallow horse dewormer, and claim that autism is caused both vaccines and Tylenol.
how would that not violate the 1st amendment?
Ya...No. The Gov't regulating speech will always be one of the worst things that can happen.The government already regulates speech when it causes harm.
The government already regulates speech when it causes harm.
Certainly not in law, medicine, or education.I think theres a vast middle ground between completely unknowledgeable and professional though.
Very disingenuous to equate to this law.It's not. I'd say misleading people in regards to healthcare is actually more harmful (both on a personal level and to society as a whole) than the speech we do regulate.
Nah, I'm good.Why not cut out the middleman and force the influencers to fact check themselves?
Just make fact checkers more of a thing.
I think a better idea is to fight fire with fire. Call out the charlatans using social media instead of giving the government power to determine what is and isn't reality.Isn't this something we already do?
Isn't this something we already do?
Do it ... harder?That doesn't work. I tell people which sources are trustworthy but they listen to their liars like its 1984.
Like, other than time investment, IDK what's stopping someone from building a sort of Snopes or Consumer Reports for online influencers.
This is the same government who forced a real martial arts champion wear clown makeup because he tried to tell people that Qi isn't a real thing and you cannot hurt someone just by waving your hands in the air and screaming.And if this were to come to the US, that's precisely how it would be used by Republicans.
I feel like their opinion on who has "real-world qualifications" means basically fuck all and you can do whatever you want as long as your content agrees with the party line.
That doesn't work. I tell people which sources are trustworthy but they listen to their liars like its 1984.
Sounds good on paper in reality it's another tool to push propaganda, discredit others and control oppositionThe only reasonable position on this
People are more likely to listen to an authoritial source, influencers are that to many people.In that respect, I see more of "listen to my rants" than "listen to the facts." A misinformed influencer will misinform others--that's part of their brand.
If you pay the fine you can use the 1st as much as you want.
The government already regulates speech when it causes harm.