China is responding to the increasing professionalization and industrialization of digital crime. The country is planning a new law that will target not only individual crimes, but the entire infrastructure behind cybercrime. The background to this is that many digital crimes today are organized through complex structures based on the division of labor. These range from the provision of technical infrastructure and payment processing to marketing and traffic services that indirectly support criminal activities. The planned regulations aim to systematically disrupt these so-called gray and black industry chains on the internet.
One focus is on further strengthening real-name systems on the internet. In the future, individuals and organizations will be expressly prevented from circumventing or manipulating identity checks. Measures are directed in particular against misused resources such as anonymously registered SIM cards, online accounts, or technical infrastructure, which often serve as a basis for fraud, spam, or other forms of online crime. Stricter controls on these resources are intended to weaken the material basis of many cybercrime structures.
In addition, internet platforms and digital service providers will be held more accountable. Depending on their size and business model, providers will be required to set up systems for the prevention, detection, and reporting of cybercrime. Platforms will thus play a more active role in identifying suspicious activities and implementing appropriate governance, monitoring, and compliance mechanisms.
Another focus is on combating cross-border cybercrime. Since many online crimes have international dimensions, the draft also provides for measures against foreign organizations or individuals who use digital services to commit crimes against Chinese users or interests. In certain cases, sanctions such as asset seizures or entry restrictions may be imposed.
The draft law shows that China is increasingly expanding its cyber governance in a systemic manner. The focus is no longer exclusively on the prosecution of individual perpetrators, but more on the regulation of the digital infrastructure and platform economy through which cybercrime is organized. For companies, platform operators, and digital service providers, this means that security, identity, and monitoring mechanisms will become an even more integral part of regulatory compliance in the Chinese internet space in the future.
China Intellectual Property Blog 