Sina Weibo answerable to its huge family

On Wednesday, the Cyberspace Administration of China's Beijing branch spoke to executives of Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, and asked them to make amends for some wrongdoings.

Xinhua reported that Sina Weibo was spreading misinformation on its platform.

For its wrongdoing, the micro blog platform has had to suspend updating its hot list from Wednesday to June 17, and faces a fine. Those responsible for the bloomer will be punished.

Sina Weibo responded saying they will make amends and work to ensure a clean, healthy cyberspace.

Many citizens use the platform to share and exchange information and news, giving the events ample social focus. Sina Weibo is the largest platform of its kind in China, with 462 million users regularly logging in by the end of 2018. People just need to key in 140 words and click on a share button for any information to reach multitudes.

Given that information shared on it reaches such a wide audience, punishing the micro blog for spreading misinformation becomes a necessity. There was order since the founding of the platform in 2009 till the recent incident.

Some say that Sina Weibo is only answerable to its owners. However, a social media platform is like an extension of society and its managers cannot wash their hands of their responsibility to society. The public space belongs to all its users and society. Therefore, Sina Weibo must be punished for its wrongdoing and to ensure a clean and healthy cyberspace.