China Tightens Grip on Social Media

Chinese authorities said that social-media users who post comments considered to be slanderous could face prison if the posts attract wide attention—a ruling free-speech advocates criticized as an attempt to give legal backing to the suppression of online dissent.

Internet users will face charges of defamation—and a possible three-year prison term—if they create slanderous content that attracts at least 5,000 hits or is reposted at least 500 times, according to the judicial interpretation, copies of which were posted to state-media websites. The document said slanderous posts that cause "psychological imbalance, self-mutilation, suicide or other serious consequences" would also be considered defamatory.