Editing Internet censorship in China (section)

===Use of service providers===
Although the government does not have the physical resources to monitor all Internet chat rooms and forums, the threat of being shut down has caused Internet content providers to employ internal staff, colloquially known as "[[big mama]]s", who stop and remove forum comments which may be politically sensitive. In [[Shenzhen]], these duties are partly taken over by a pair of police-created cartoon characters, [[Jingjing and Chacha]], who help extend the online "police presence" of the Shenzhen authorities. These cartoons spread across the nation in 2007 reminding Internet users that they are being watched and should avoid posting "sensitive" or "harmful" material on the Internet.<ref name="Harwit, Eric 2008"/>

However, Internet content providers have adopted some counter-strategies. One is to post politically sensitive stories and remove them only when the government complains. In the hours or days in which the story is available online, people read it, and by the time the story is taken down, the information is already public. One notable case in which this occurred was in response to a school explosion in 2001, when local officials tried to suppress the fact the explosion resulted from children illegally producing [[fireworks]].<ref>{{Cite news |url= http://www.people.com.cn/GB/shehui/20010310/413811.html |script-title= zh:万载爆炸事件：新闻大战功与过 |publisher= people.com.cn |date= 10 March 2001 |language= zh-cn |access-date= 22 April 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101111225951/http://www.people.com.cn/GB/shehui/20010310/413811.html |archive-date= 11 November 2010 |url-status= live }}</ref>

On 11 July 2003, the Chinese government [[ICP license|started granting licenses]] to businesses to open [[Internet cafe]] chains. Business analysts and foreign Internet operators regard the licenses as intended to clamp down on information deemed harmful to the Chinese government. In July 2007, the city of [[Xiamen]] announced it would ban anonymous online postings after text messages and online communications were used to rally protests against a proposed chemical plant in the city. Internet users will be required to provide proof of identity when posting messages on the more than 100,000 Web sites registered in Xiamen.<ref>{{Cite news|url= http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Business/2007/07/07/chinese_city_bans_anonymous_web_postings/4057/|title= Chinese city bans anonymous web postings|access-date= 8 July 2007|date= 7 July 2007|publisher= United Press International|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070712092529/http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Business/2007/07/07/chinese_city_bans_anonymous_web_postings/4057/|archive-date= 12 July 2007|url-status= live}}</ref>
The Chinese government issued new rules on 28 December 2012, requiring Internet users to provide their real names to service providers, while assigning Internet companies greater responsibility for deleting forbidden postings and reporting them to the authorities. The new regulations, issued by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, allow Internet users to continue to adopt pseudonyms for their online postings, but only if they first provide their real names to service providers, a measure that could chill some of the vibrant discourse on the country's Twitter-like microblogs. The authorities periodically detain and even jail Internet users for politically sensitive comments, such as calls for a multiparty democracy or accusations of impropriety by local officials.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/29/world/asia/china-toughens-restrictions-on-internet-use.html | work=The New York Times | first=Keith | last=Bradsher | title=China Toughens Restrictions on Internet Use | date=28 December 2012 | access-date=22 February 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220200151/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/29/world/asia/china-toughens-restrictions-on-internet-use.html | archive-date=20 December 2016 | url-status=live }}</ref>