China's current crackdown on online rumors is consistent with the official decision [zh] released after the Sixth Plenum of the 17th Party Congress in October 2011. Oxford scholar Rogier Creemers from China Copyright and Media blog translated this official document, titled Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Decision Concerning Deepening Cultural Structural Reform. Read what it says about the Internet below:

Developing healthy and upward network culture. Strengthening online ideological and cultural battlefield construction is an urgent task in Socialist culture construction. It is necessary to earnestly implement and vigorously use, scientifically develop, and manage according to the law policies guaranteeing security, strengthen and improve network culture and management, strengthen online public opinion guidance, sing the online ideology and culture main melody.

Broadly developing civilized website construction, promoting civilized web business and civilized web use, supervising and urging network operators and service enterprises to implement legal duties and social responsibilities, not providing dissemination channels to harmful information. Strengthening network legal structure construction, accelerating the shaping of an Internet management system combining standardized laws and regulations, administrative supervision and management, sectoral self-regulation, technological guarantees, public supervision and social education. Strengthening guidance and management over social networks and instant communication tools, etc., standardizing online information dissemination procedures, cultivating a civilized and rational network environment. Punishing activities of disseminating harmful information according to the law, deeply moving forward the special campaign to clean up network obscenity and pornography and resist vulgar information, strictly strike network illegality and crime. Expanding online personal information protection strength, establishing network security appraisal mechanisms, safeguarding the public interest and national information security.