China’s state online paper wants more human censors to identify ‘vulgar’ content
Demand for online scrubbing has soared since 2018 after China tightened its already strict online censorship rules
Beijing — People.cn, the online unit of China’s influential People’s Daily, is boosting its numbers of human internet censors backed by artificial intelligence (AI) to help firms vet content on apps and adverts, capitalising on its unmatched Communist Party lineage. Demand for online censoring services provided by Shanghai-listed People.cn has soared since 2018 after China tightened its already strict online censorship rules. As a unit of the People's Daily — the ruling Communist Party's mouthpiece — it is seen by clients as the go-to online censor. Investors concur, lifting shares in People.cn by around 240% since the start of 2019. "The biggest advantage of People.cn is its precise grasp of policy trends," said An Fushuang, an independent analyst based in Shenzhen. In recent years, China has shut tens of thousands of websites and social media accounts that contained what it said was illegal content as well as "vulgar" and pornographic material. Tibet, Taiwan, the 1989 crackdown on...
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