By Sophie Taylor
SHANGHAI (Reuters) -
Chinese video-sharing Web site
Tudou, backed by a unit of venture capital heavyweight IDG,
received an official government warning Thursday under new
rules to curb pornographic, violent and political content.
Industry insiders said the move could scare away future
investors in the sector.
But Beijing said late last year that only state-owned or
state-controlled companies can apply for licences to broadcast
or stream video online.
A lack of clarity over those definitions and uncertainty
over how strictly they would be enforced has left the industry
confused.
Tudou, one of China's most popular video sites whose
service was temporarily suspended last week, said it had
received an official warning before the statement came out
Thursday.
"We're working hard to upgrade our systems to catch
everything that needs to be caught," Vice President Dan Brody
said by phone from Taiwan.
Tudou's investors include Granite Global Ventures, IDG
China and JAFCO, and its users publish more than 40,000 new
videos each day, according to its Web site www.tudou.
"This is just a reminder that everyone has to stay on their
toes and keep their content clean," added Brody, a former
Google executive.
BLACKLIST
Several of China's popular video Web sites, which include
56 and Youku, have won backing by foreign venture
capital heavyweights. But some industry players warned that
foreign investors may become wary of throwing money into the
country's fast-growing Internet sector.
"This would certainly make the investment community
nervous, until the current situation clears up for companies on
the blacklist," said Victor Koo, chief executive of video site
Youku and former president of portal Sohu Inc.
Among three lists released on China's government Web site
www.gov.cn Thursday, Tudou figured on the top of a list of
companies which had received an official warning.
A second list ordered some lesser-known Web sites to cease
operation and a third listed companies operating without a
content licence.
In China, an administrative punishment typically starts
with a verbal warning, followed by a written warning, and
eventually suspension of operations.
China's government, keen to avoid stoking social
discontent, keeps a tight watch over the media and often blocks
or censors popular Web sites and forums where dissent may brew.
This latest sweep of the Internet by Beijing echoes its
previous campaign to force Web sites to apply for Internet
content licences, and may be a prelude to putting in place a
system for standardizing video content, industry watchers said.
sanctioned Web sites to come out, which foreign investors may
see as safer investment targets.
"We are certainly very concerned about this matter and are
keeping a close eye on developments," said one executive at a
prominent foreign venture capital firm who asked not to be
identified.
China, which had 210 million Web users at the end of last
year, has since overtaken the United States as the world's
biggest Internet market by number of users, according to
Beijing-based research firm BDA.
Reuters/Nielsen
0 comments:
Post a Comment