Adopted by the 25th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th People’s Congress of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on December 1, 2016
Article 1 This regulation is formulated to regulate the dissemination order of information networks such as the internet and mobile phones in the autonomous region, to prevent and punish illegal and criminal activities that spread false information and disrupt social order, and to protect the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, legal persons, and other organizations, based on relevant laws and regulations, and considering the actual conditions of the autonomous region.
Article 2 This regulation applies to the prevention and punishment of activities that spread false information on the internet within the administrative region of the autonomous region.
Article 3 The term “spreading false information on the internet” as used in this regulation refers to the behavior of fabricating false information and disseminating it on the internet through text, pictures, audio, and video, or knowingly spreading false information on the internet to disrupt social order.
Article 4 Information network service providers and users in the autonomous region engaged in businesses such as websites, applications, instant messaging tools, and mobile text messaging must comply with the constitution and laws, observe public order, respect social morality, not harm network security, and must not use the network to engage in activities that endanger national security, fabricate or spread false information to disrupt social order, or infringe on the reputation, privacy, and other legitimate rights and interests of others.
Article 5 The People’s Government of the autonomous region shall strengthen network information security work. The autonomous region’s network information, communication, and public security departments are responsible for the prevention and punishment of the dissemination of false information on the internet, and shall strengthen supervision and management of information network service providers and users.
Article 6 All units and individuals have the obligation to assist and cooperate with relevant departments in preventing and punishing the dissemination of false information on the internet. If false information is found to be spread on the internet, it should be promptly reported to network information, communication, and public security departments.
Article 7 Information network service providers engaged in internet information services must bear the primary responsibility for management, implement network security technology protection measures, and ensure information security, following the principle of “whoever hosts is responsible.”
No internet information service may be provided without registration or permission.
Article 8 To provide news information editing and publishing, reprinting services, or news information release platform services to the public through websites, applications, forums, blogs, microblogs, instant messaging tools, search engines, live streaming platforms, and other applications with news public opinion or social mobilization functions in the autonomous region, one must obtain an internet news information service license.
Article 9 Information network service providers must establish a content review system, implement security technology protection measures, accept social supervision, open channels for network reporting, and promptly handle reports of illegal and harmful information from the public.
Article 10 Information network service providers must publish the terms of service for comment posting on pages where users can post comments, clearly stating that it is prohibited to post or spread rumors, disrupt social order, or publish content prohibited by laws and regulations in comments.
Article 11 Internet information search service providers must not provide false information or other information prohibited by laws and regulations in the form of links, summaries, snapshots, associative words, related searches, recommendations, etc.
Article 12 When providing information release, instant messaging, and other services to users, information network service providers must require users to provide real identity information when signing agreements or confirming the provision of services. If users do not provide real identity information, information network service providers must not provide related services.
Article 13 Information network service providers and users must not use the network to fabricate, produce, copy, publish, and disseminate false and harmful information containing the following content:
- Endangering national security, honor, and interests;
- Inciting subversion of state power or overthrow of the socialist system;
- Inciting division of the country or undermining national unity;
- Promoting religious fanaticism or undermining religious harmony;
- Promoting terrorism or extremism;
- Spreading ethnic hatred or discrimination;
- Spreading false information about dangers, disasters, epidemics, or police situations;
- Spreading terror information such as bomb threats, biochemical threats, or radiation threats;
- Spreading violent or obscene information;
- Infringing on others’ reputation, privacy, intellectual property, and other legitimate rights and interests;
- Other content prohibited by laws and regulations.
Article 14 If information network service providers discover the dissemination of false information on the internet, they must immediately stop transmission, save relevant records, delete related information, and promptly report to network information, communication, and public security departments.
Article 15 When registering account names, setting avatars, and profiles, information network users must not use illegal information or use them to spread false information, disrupting economic and social order.
Article 16 Information network service providers that engage in commercial internet information services without the necessary licenses, or exceed the scope of their licenses to provide services, shall be ordered by the autonomous region’s communication department to correct within a specified period. Illegal gains, if any, shall be confiscated, and a fine of three to five times the illegal gains shall be imposed. If the circumstances are serious, the website shall be ordered to close.
For violations of this regulation, if the provider has not completed the registration procedures or exceeds the scope of registration to provide services, the autonomous region’s communication department shall order corrections within a specified period. If corrections are not made, the website shall be ordered to close.
Article 17 If information network service providers fail to fulfill their primary responsibility for information security management, fail to establish a content review system, or fail to implement security technology protection measures, the autonomous region’s network information department shall order corrections, issue warnings, and may impose a fine of up to 30,000 yuan. If the circumstances are serious, the autonomous region’s network information and communication departments shall shut down the relevant websites. If corrections are not made, the provider’s qualification to provide information network services shall be revoked.
Article 18 If information network service providers do not stop transmission, take elimination measures, or save relevant records for information prohibited by laws and administrative regulations, the autonomous region’s network information and other competent departments shall order corrections, issue warnings, and confiscate illegal gains. If corrections are not made or the circumstances are serious, a fine of 100,000 to 500,000 yuan shall be imposed, and the autonomous region’s network information, communication, and other competent departments may order the suspension of related businesses, suspension for rectification, or closure of the website. The responsible personnel and other directly responsible personnel shall be fined 10,000 to 100,000 yuan.
Article 19 If responsible persons and staff of the network information, communication, public security, and other competent departments neglect their duties, abuse their power, engage in favoritism, or use their positions for personal gain and commit crimes while preventing and punishing the dissemination of false information on the internet, they shall be held criminally responsible according to law. If a crime is not constituted, administrative sanctions shall be imposed on the responsible persons and other directly responsible persons according to law.
Article 20 Other behaviors that violate this regulation and should be punished shall be punished according to relevant laws and regulations.
Article 21 This regulation shall come into force on December 10, 2016.
