A brief history of China’s campaign to enforce real-name registration online

Chinese internet authorities have embarked on yet another campaign to force netizens to register online accounts using their real names.

This latest initiative is aimed at impersonation accounts – no more fake Barack Obamas or Vladimir Putins – according to Reuters. Accounts that mimic government bodies and news organizations, such as state-run newspaper People’s Daily and China’s anti-corruption agency, are also doomed to deletion.

Most of these accounts are meant to be funny and not intended to actually mislead anyone, but the Cyberspace Administration of China will have none of those shenanigans. The new regulations will help to halt the spread of rumors, it says.

The burden falls on the companies who operate China’s social networks to enforce the rules, including Tencent and Sina. Weibo told Reuters it has removed 293 accounts with "harmful names" in the past month.

Previous crusades to enforce real-name registration met with mixed results. Many social networks in China now require a phone number and SMS verification to sign up so as to prevent one person from creating multiple accounts, and because using a real name and national ID are required to subscribe to most mobile phone services. But this is far from a full-proof way to make sure people are using their real names.

Here’s a brief history of official efforts to push real-name registration in China:

• September 2009 – All bloggers and reporters posting on news portals like Sina and Netease are required to log in with their true identities.
• May 2010 – Shortly after requiring internet service providers and telcos to snitch on customers who are sharing "state secrets," the first plans to implement real-name registration regulations on average web users surface.
• September 2011 – Alibaba announces its real-name requirement for all merchants in China.
• December 2011 – The Beijing municipal government publishes regulations requiring that all microbloggers, such as those on Sina Weibo, register with their real name and national ID number.
• December 2011 – Baihe is one of the first dating sites in China to require users to use their real names when signing up, which also requires inputting their national ID card numbers. But the scheme apparently didn’t work that well and did not retroactively include existing members.
• January 2012 – Regulations requiring real-name registration extend to all train and long-distance bus tickets.
• January 2012 – China’s central bank drafts a law requiring online payment systems like Alipay to acquire the national ID number of all customers.
• January 2012 – A nationwide trial program to get new microblog users to disclose their real identities expands to five major cities.
• March 2012 – The supposed "deadline" for all Sina Weibo accounts to be registered with real names
• April 2012 – The Internet Society of China (ISC) publishes a paper calling for stricter regulations and public education to prevent hearsay and gossip on the Chinese web, kicking off the country’s ongoing war on rumors.
• November 2012 – Sina Weibo updgrades its real-name verification system to include overseas users, but it’s easily skirted.
• November 2012 – WeChat reinstates an optional account verification function.
• December 2012 – The National People’s Congress (NPC) approves a law requiring real-name registration in order to sign up for internet access.
• April 2013 – WeChat begins a real-name verification process when setting up new accounts.
• April 2013 – The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) drafts a law requiring real-name registration to set up any kind of phone line or mobile connection in the country.
• August 2013 – China’s three major telcos require all subscribers to register with their real name and national ID number, and old numbers are no longer exempt.
• January 2014 – The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) issues a notice to video hosting websites stating that anyone who uploads a video to the internet must be registered using their real name. Indie filmmakers must gain licenses and report the content of their work before it is posted.
• July 2014 – The MIIT requires developers to register with their real names when publishing their apps to app stores, telcos, and smartphone makers. It also promised to institute a blacklist system for developers who do not comply or create illegal content.
• August 2014 – The State Internet and Information Office requires all public account owners on messaging apps to register with their real names. Only news organizations and other authorized websites will be allowed to post or share political news through public accounts.
• January 2015 – The State Internet Information Office states it will push forward a comprehensive real-name registration and oversight system, which will cover microblogs, Baidu’s Tieba forums, and other sites with user-generated content.

If you think we missed something, please let us know in the comments.