Beijing will step up efforts to promote, as it called civilised, internet by strengthening oversight over the likes of news sites and online platforms and encouraging them to promote core socialist values, the regime-run Xinhua propaganda agency reported on Tuesday.

After years of runaway growth and rapid change, Communist China's censors have been to trying to strengthen control over society with more stringent supervision of a range of sectors from technology to education and entertainment.

Cyberspace should be used to promote education about the ruling Communist Party and its achievements, according to guidelines published by the State Council, the agency reported.


The Internet Cannot Question A Leading Role of Communist Party

A clear-cut stand should be taken against the so-called historical nihilism, defined as any attempt to use the past to question the party’s leading role or the “inevitability” of Chinese socialism, and good moral values should be promoted, such as by publicising cases involving model workers, the author of the guidelines said.

Behavioural norms in cyberspace should also be strengthened by cultivating ethics and rules that conform to socialist core values, it said, adding that efforts should be made to help young people use the internet “correctly” and “safely”.

Communist Party stressed that Internet platforms will be required to improve self-discipline and governance, a phrase that signifies increase of censorship, over content platforms such as live streaming will be strengthened, with the public encouraged to participate in supervision.