By WSJ Staff
- Tyrone Siu/Reuters
- Chinese milk producer Mengniu was at the heart of the public relations scandal that appears to have inspired a crackdown on “illegal public relations” in China.
Chinese regulators, often criticized both in and outside of China for manipulating public opinion by interfering with the flow of information online, have shut down 6,600 websites in their efforts to clamp down on “illegal public relations deals” that employ similar tactics for commercial gain.
According to state-run newspaper China Daily, telecommunications authorities shut the websites down as part of a campaign against bad public relations practices launched in April by the State Internet Information Office, recently set up to oversee Internet regulation, and several other government agencies.
The websites involved “illegal groups which claimed to specialize in deleting online news stories and posts with negative influences or hiring other netizens to spread certain kinds of information or opinions on the Internet” for deals totaling more than 1.13 million yuan ($177,000). The China Daily story didn’t provide details of specific public relations deals.
– Loretta Chao, with contributions from Sue Feng. Follow Loretta on Twitter @lorettac
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