China Issues Draft Guidelines To Combat Online Bullying

China is seeking public feedback on drafting guidelines to punish cyber violence, officials said on Friday, as concern increases about online bullying and attacks on women and children in the world’s largest internet community.

According to the guidelines, cyber violence, unlike traditional crimes, frequently targets strangers, requiring victims to pay extremely high costs to safeguard their rights, leading to repercussions such as social death, insanity and suicide.

The supreme people’s Procuratorate (SPP) and the supreme people’s Court have set June 25 as the deadline for comments on the guidelines.

The regulations target behaviours such as the spread of online rumours, insults and personal information, and violators may face criminal punishment.

However, the rules included no information on such punishments to dissuade aggression against kids and the disabled, the fabrication of sex-related topics that infringe on the dignity of others, and the use of deep fake technology.

In one recent case, the media attributed a young mother’s suicide in the central city of Wuhan to social media criticism of her demeanour following the death of her six-year-old son who was run over by a teacher’s car in a school compound.

On June 2, she jumped from a high-rise building.

Local authorities could not be reached for comment right away.

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