China Govt Cracks Down On Local Versions Of Twitter

BEIJING: China's media and culture police are at a high point of success with the local version of Twitter launching a campaign to suspend accounts of users who "spread rumors". The move came after the censors forced a TV channel to junk a sensitive video clip and blocked access to songs by Lady Gaga.

Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter-which remains banned in China-, on Saturday warned it would suspend accounts of people who spread rumors. Sina said bloggers posted false reports about a 19-year-old murder accused, who was released on bail because of his father's connections.

Observers fear the move would shut up critics, who raise uncomfortable questions about issues like corruption and inefficient railway operations that resulted in a major accident recently. Sina's action followed visits by senior officials of the Communist Party of China to its office.

The state-run China Central Television network has suppressed a video clip, which it had shown by mistake a few days back. The clip showed how authorities had implemented a cyber-attack on websites run by the banned Falun Gong sect, and inadvertently exposed the government's censorship methods.

The government recently banned 100 foreign songs including some sang by Lady Gaga because they posed "cultural threat" to the government.