China’s Weibo to heavily restrict external links

July 13, 2020

BEIJING - Weibo, one of China's biggest social media outlets, has said it will start to block user links to all but a select number of websites within weeks "in an effort to fight fraud", according to TechNode, one of China's leading high-tech media groups.

Technode quoted Weibo as saying it made the decision because the free service is heavily abused by scammers, as well as pornography and gambling sites.

Domains on Weibo's whitelist will include those owned by Government bodies, licensed media, major web portals and verified companies, according to the statement.

"Selected companies must submit a business license, an ICP license, which is mandatory to operate a website in China, as well as vow that the content on their websites is 100% legal, TechNode reported.

www.webershandwick.cn (ATI).