The popular Chinese social media site Weibo has announced that it is to recruit 1,000 “supervisors” to censor content on its platform. The supervisors will be recruited from existing Weibo users and will be paid 200 yuan to report illegal, harmful and pornographic content in their own time. The supervisors must have their identities verified and have “some experience” in reporting content, although full training will be given. They must report a minimum of 200 pieces of content per month, and the best reporters will be rewarded with electronics and other prizes. Weibo commented on the recruitment of the censors, saying that the initiative was aimed at “strengthening the netizens' self-discipline and cleaning the Weibo environment”. Online censorship is insidious in China, which is currently ranked the worst country in the world for internet censorship by Freedom House.
