Xiaomi, Baidu Promise Their Mobile App Stores Will Abide by Socialism and China’s National Interests

On December 2, 2014, the overseas edition of the People’s Daily published an article entitled “Beijing Ensures that Published Apps ‘Get Their Identity Verified’” (北京确保App发布“验明正身”). Some excerpts:

Quite a few Apps disregard the State's administrative regulations regarding news information services qualifications, covertly launch news information services, and disregard basic facts in order to attract eyeballs, and in so doing severely infringe upon the public interest. Some even go so far as to illegally transmit overseas information. 

In order to address this, the Beijing Municipal Internet Information Office and the Beijing Internet Society assembled 50 mobile client, App store, and App creator operators to sign the "Beijing Mobile Internet Application Order and Public Information Service Self-Discipline Agreement" and the "Safeguard App Information Service Order, Bring About App Positive Social Utility Commitment Letter."

不少App无视国家关于新闻信息服务的资质管理法规，变相开展新闻信息服务，为了吸引流量或夺人眼球无视基本事实，严重侵害了公众利益，有的甚至存在非法传播境外信息等现象。 

对此，北京市网信办、首都互联网协会召集50多家移动客户端、App应用商店、App工场，签署《北京市移动互联网应用程序公众信息服务自律公约》和《维护App信息服务秩序、发挥App积极社会作用承诺书》。

According to the People's Daily, signatories included Sina (新浪), Sohu (搜狐), Netease (网易), Baidu (百度), Phoenix (凤凰), Qihoo (奇虎360), and Xiaomi (小米).

Article 8 of the "Safeguard App Information Service Order, Bring About App Positive Social Utility Commitment Letter" states:

Those engaging in news information service activities must carry out relevant formalities and obtain certification for such activities. No one may publish or re-publish political news without prior approval from the competent government regulator.
八、从事新闻信息服务活动必须履行相关手续，取得从业资格。未经主管部门批准，不得发布、转载时政类新闻。

Article 4 of the "Beijing Mobile Internet Application Order and Public Information Service Self-Discipline Agreement" state:

Resolutely block illegal harmful information. Scrupulously abide by the "Seven Bottom Lines," fulfill our primary duties, and strengthen content examination and verification.
四、坚决抵制违法不良信息。恪守“七条底线”，落实主体责任，强化内容审核。

The term “Seven Bottom Lines” does not appear in any PRC law or regulation. The first mention of the “Seven Bottom Lines" appears to have come in a report posted on the People’s Daily website on August 11, 2013. According to that report, well-known online personalities had gathered at CCTV's headquarters in Beijing on August 10 and reached an agreement that there were seven bottom lines that they would observe:

1. Laws and Regulations
2. The Socialist System
3. The National Interest
4. Citizens' Legal Rights and Interests
5. Social Order
6. Moral Norms
7. Factual Information

On August 13, 2013, a Sichuan government web site published an article entitled "The Seven Bottom Lines That Every Internet User Should Observe" (七条底线，全体网民应该共守).  According to that article:

The National Interest is to be placed above all others, because without the nation we have nothing. That is the way of the physical world, and even more so in the online world. We must forge an online patriotic culture, with the soul of online culture resting on the national interest.
国家利益高于一切，没有国家就没有我们的一切，现实世界如此，网络世界更如此，我们应该打造网络爱国主义文化，国家利益至上应该是网络文化的灵魂。

Regarding the socialist system, the article said:

This is our fundamental institution, this is a bottom line we cannot neglect, whether in real life on the Internet, we eat and live socialism. We cannot undermine ourselves.
这是我们的基本制度，这个底线不能丢，无论是现实中，还是网络上，我们吃的是社会主义的饭，过的是社会主义的生活，我们不能自己给自己掘墓。