China has introduced a new measure to combat misinformation, requiring influencers sharing information on sensitive topics to hold a degree in that area.

The rule, which came into effect on 25 October under the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), is reportedly aimed at reducing online misinformation and protecting social media users from potentially harmful advice or guidance.

Influencers discussing subjects such as medicine, law, education, or finance must provide proof of their expertise, whether through a professional licence or degree. Platforms including Douyin (China’s version of TikTok), Bilibili, and Weibo are tasked with verifying these credentials.

The CAC has also banned advertising for medical products and services, such as health foods and supplements, in an effort to curb promotions disguised as educational content.

So you’re saying I can’t continue promoting dick pills that might cause people’s organs to boil? alex-no-supplements

  • Dragonstaff@leminal.space
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    5 days ago

    Whoever came up with the “marketplace of ideas” thing never accounted for people who profit from an idea pushing it with all sorts of marketing tactics.

    • Dirt_Possum [she/her, undecided]@hexbear.net
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      5 days ago

      never accounted for people who profit from an idea pushing it with all sorts of marketing tactics.

      I mean, that’s literally what happens in regular marketplaces. That anyone ever thought that the marketplace analogy was a good one (to referr to the sorting of good and true ideas from bad and false ones) just speaks to how thoroughly propagandized everyone is into thinking marketplaces allocate products in a good and equitable, unbiased way. Anyone who understands how markets actually work long term in the real world would know that advocating for a “marketplace of ideas” is actually advocating for a sorting machine where the worst ideas get to be the ones that actually win out in the end. But of course very few people (Marxists) actually do understand how markets work long term in the real world because everyone has been force fed all our lives on the liberal lie that it’s all just simple “supply and demand” and that the great “invisible hand” of the free market will ensure it all works out the way it should, the way it’s supposed to.