China: Opened consultation on Supreme People's Court Guiding Opinions on Legally Punishing Cyber Violence and Crimes

On 9 June 2023, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Public Security Bureau and the Ministry of Public Security published the draft Guiding Opinions on Legally Punishing Cyber Violence and Crimes and opened a public consultation until 25 June 2023. The draft Guiding Opinions aim to provide legal clarity regarding punishments for publishing and displaying online insults, and slander, classified as "seriously endangering social order." In particular, the draft Guiding Opinions specify that network service providers must implement security measures to identify content inciting cyber violence or classified as insult and slander and implement corrective measures. Further, the network service providers are required to implement corrective measures upon notification from authorities to combat the dissemination of illegal content. In case of non-compliance with the security management obligations, the punishment under the Criminal Law would be imprisonment of up to five years or criminal detention.