The Cyberspace Administration of China has launched a two-month crackdown on malicious social media accounts. Any accounts that are found to be breaking the law and regulations will be shut down and their operators punished.

As part of this action, the cyberspace administrations of Beijing and Shanghai along with those of several provinces have taken measures to close junk accounts on social networks. The giant internet service providers such as Tencent and Sina have responded by shutting down more than 18,576 malicious accounts on their platforms.

The background for such a move is that, certain junk accounts have been spreading rumors about the novel coronavirus recently. In a recent example, one account misquoted Zhong Nanshan, head of the National Health Commission expert group for fighting COVID-19, as saying that there would be a second wave of the virus in May.

Zhong never said that. The junk account that spread the rumor got a large data flow, but at the price of scaring people for no reason.

By pursuing large data flows, the junk accounts mean to get bigger audiences. Most of them sell advertisements based on their huge data flows, while a few of them are daring enough to blackmail legal businesses by threatening to hype up bad news about them.

These junk accounts have already violated the law and relevant regulations on proper behavior in the cyberspace, which clearly prohibit rumors. Besides, the internet companies that provide platforms for social accounts also have their own rules that forbid rumors and other junk content. It is right that the cyberspace administrations and the internet companies should close these accounts.

The junk accounts should be rooted out, instead of growing again after the crackdown. That in turn requires the internet companies to strengthen enforcement of their regulations, and nip any junk accounts in the bud before they grow up, so that society won't bear any losses from their malicious deeds.

- ZHANG ZHOUXIANG, CHINA DAILY