World News

I like the idea of not letting stupid people spread misinformation on the internet (unless it's myself), but this is just gatekeeping the right to speak out in public about certain topics which I find deeply problematic.

Is this really true? I cast suspicion because to me it sounds like they are trying to convince the world that whatever comes out of their influencers about the topics they are interested to push is of higher quality than the rest of the world.

Oh the media keeps reporting that there are human rights abuse going on some place remote. Those are obvious lies because our double MBA PhD influencer is quite clear that everyone is happy.

Yes it would be nice if only knowledgeable people spoke on complex subjects in a language that allows less knowledgeable people to understand. But one has to be able to trust what is being said.

I don't think we'd lose anything of value even if we banned all influencers from speaking online on social media on any topic, so I can see why China's done this.

The idea is great on paper, but execution is everything.

seems like a way to silence dissident speak, or rhetoric, anything critical of the CCP.

I get that you don’t want misinformation happening on certain topics. The scary part comes when you’re going to decide to police it. Can you still share info on the health journey of you or your loved one? Can you still ask people to buy your products that are meant to save more money in the long run than they cost? Can you tell people you had a bad experience with a certain bank? Not a fan of the approach, but I do understand the basic concept of why they’d want to do something.

Personally I'd like to see a total global ban of social media.

Humans aren't designed to communicate with this many people at once, and it shows.

Turkey requires a college degree to become president. Then they started revoking the college degrees of the opposition candidates.

This is quintessential “Modern CPP”

Take a real problem screwing up the western world bad (like influencer mis/disinformation), and smash it in a way only their massive state apparatus can…

Superficially.

It’s “proof” their party line works and, as always, a good way to control the populace, if abused. It’s probably effective, but not as effective as it appears on the surface.

I’m sympathetic here.

In past years I was a “free internet” libertarian leaning diehard, but something has to be done about algos boosting shameless outrage peddlers; it’s literally destroying the planet and our collective psyche, just for short term corporate benefit (Or corpo-state benefit in China's case, as its “Big Tech” is under the party's thumb). But China just took the problem and used it as an excuse for more control.

lol

I can see how this would play out in the states. First you make it so only degreed people can talk about certain things. Then you dismiss them as educated elite ivory tower academics. Because we live in a nation that scorns experience and expertise.

Someone asked for an example the other day of something that didn't believe was true and I listed seven. They dismissed me with "I didn't ask for an encyclopedia." It was the best way they could ignore that someone knew more than them and not have to actually process the information they explicitly asked for.

There's no shortage of bad faith influencers who have degrees and misinform anyway. Such laws shouldn't be centered on pressuring people into expensive educational programs. They should focus on outlawing claims that are demonstrably false and harmful.

I think the main focus here should be the word "influencers".

One thing is for a relatively unknown person to speak about any kind of topic even if they know nothing about it.

But when someone with millions of followers spreads misinfo, that is dangerous as it can end up killing lots of people.

People with a certain amount of followers should be held accountable for what they say the same way that a newspaper should.

Yikes

It's incredible that despite how shit the US has become It's still a better place than 1984 land

A real communist country would have a UBI that doesn't pressure people to become scammers and grifters, just to make a wage in a shit economy with little financial opportunities.

Apparently people with degrees cannot lie

I'm conflicted. On one hand, I'm American and believe in free speech. On the other hand, I want assholes to be held accountable for lying.

So conflicted.

Curious to see if this leads to licenses or degrees being revoked as universities have their name tied to what people are saying.

Idk how to feel about this. If this news came from the UK, the replies would've been:

you got a loicense for that, mate?

But because it's China, people will gladly glaze this move.

There are plenty of dumb as doornails graduates as well so ..

There's so much where this could be used to silence people, I can't trust this. What if you're an expert in a related field to the "serious" topic and disagree with the mainstream opinion held by experts within that field? Who gets to decide what constitutes a "serious" topic?

I just keep thinking of the recent Ms. Rachel controversy where conservative voices basically said she should stay out of talking on Palestine because she was "only" a children's educator. But one should be able to express their opinion on this serious matter even if you aren't an expert, and yeah, even if you're a major influencer.

I want societies to address misinformation and disinformation campaigns as much as the next person, but to be clear, I just don't trust governments to be the ones to do that. Granted governments are admittedly experts in misinformation and disinformation, so at least we can rest assured that experts have eyes on it though...

Genuinely curious if anyone has info on how something like this is enforced.