Cyberspace Administration of China
 |
|
| Formation | 2014 |
|---|---|
| Type | Supra-ministerial policy coordination and consultation body |
| Purpose | cyberspace policy and regulatory oversight |
| Location |
|
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Leader
|
Xi Jinping |
|
Deputy Leaders
|
Li Keqiang Liu Yunshan |
|
Head
|
Xu Lin |
|
Parent organization
|
Central Leading Group for Internet Security and Informatization |
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) (Chinese: 国家互联网信息办公室), also known as the Office of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs, is the central Internet censorship, oversight, and control agency for the People's Republic of China.
The CAC was founded in 2014. As of June 29, 2016, the agency is headed by Xu Lin, who had been deputy to former head Lu Wei. The CAC answers to the Central Leading Group for Internet Security and Informatization (中央网络安全和信息化领导小组), which is headed by Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping. The deputy heads are Li Keqiang, the Premier of the State Council of China, and Liu Yunshan, the head of the Propaganda and Ideology Leading Group.
The CAC, based on the same bureaucracy as the Communist Party's Office for Foreign Propaganda, is involved in the formulation and implementation of policy on a variety of issues related to the Chinese Internet.
The CAC includes the following departments: an Internet Security Emergency Command Center, an Agency Service Center, and an Illegal and Unhealthy Information Reporting Center.
The efforts of the CAC have been linked with a broader push by the administration of Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, characterized by Xiao Qiang, head of China Digital Times, as a "ferocious assault on civil society." This has included forced confessions of television journalists, military parades, harsh media censorship and more.
The CAC also maintains some censorship functions, including issuing directives to media companies in China. After a campaign to arrest almost 200 lawyers and activists in China, the CAC published a directive saying that "All websites must, without exception, use as the standard official and authoritative media reports with regards to the detention of trouble-making lawyers by the relevant departments."
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Wikipedia