China to insist on KYC for social media users
Publication:
Monday, 28 August, 2017 - 14:10
chiefofficersnet
When we launched PleaseBeInformed.com, one of our fundamental principles of design was that only those who we had taken reasonable steps to identify and verify would be permitted to post, even to comment. That decision was at the heart of our plan to charge a small annual membership fee, paid by credit card. While American-based social media networks spread across the world with more and more fraudulent accounts, China, it is reported, is taking steps to combat the use of social media for financial and "news" fraud, for that is what fake news and scurrilous social media comment is, at their heart.
The plan, as it has been reported, is that all social media operating (legally) in China must ensure that the true identity of those who are permitted to post must be obtained.
It is not clear how this will be done: there is no obligation, for example, for even a token membership charge. But it may be that the idea is that accounts must be verified with reference to a government issued identity card. That is not as difficult as it sounds because, in China as in many other countries, access to a wide range of services is possible only with a valid ID card.
Exactly how it works out remains to be seen but other countries should watch.
It's good to note that we were more than a year ahead of this development.