China ramps up spin on the web

2 million workers given order to spread ‘positive energy’

SHANGHAI — More than two million Beijing propaganda workers have been told to step up their online activities and tap into the social media revolution to spread “positive energy” across the Internet.

The order came from Lu Wei, the Chinese capital’s propaganda chief, at a meeting on Thursday, according to a report in the Beijing News.

The “2.06 million” propaganda workers “should make more efforts in opinion guiding on hot topics,” Lu said in an apparent reference to 60,000 directly employed propaganda officials and two million informal collaborators.

By expanding its presence on social media sites, the Communist Party would be able to “handle hot topics effectively, strengthen the online mainstream public opinion and improve the ‘ecology’ of online public opinion.”

Referring to Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, Lu said propaganda officials should “browse on Weibo, set up Weibo accounts, send Weibo (messages and) study Weibo.”

Lu’s comments come weeks after Beijing appeared to tighten its control over the Internet by announcing regulations that, if enforced, would require users to register their real names before using the service.

According to the Beijing News, Lu listed a series of “hot topics,” including “economic trends, price controls, transformation and development, employment, housing, social security (and) income distribution.” Officials were also ordered to “purify” the Internet by continuing their “crackdown on harmful and vulgar information.”

The political importance of China’s addiction to the Internet is not lost on its incoming leaders and there has been speculation that Xi Jinping, who becomes president in March, has taken his first steps into the world of Weibo, which has an estimated 200 million registered users.