1 October

If you comment on Chinese platforms from elsewhere in Asia, your account still has to be tied to a real identity: in April 2022 Douban updated its policy so that overseas users must bind a mainland Chinese phone number or provide identity documents. The requirement comes from the Provisions on the Administration of Internet Comment Services, which took effect on 1 October 2017 and which the Cyberspace Administration of China framed as "real names in the back end, voluntary in the front end", meaning a nickname on the page but a verified identity behind it. A revised version that took effect in December 2022 replaced them and named phone numbers and ID numbers as the means of verification. Since July 2025, a state-issued "network number" can be used instead: platforms may then not ask for identity details directly, while the state platform must provide the real identity behind a network number, along with its authentication logs, whenever the law requires assistance. Comments on these platforms can be traced back to a phone number or ID either way, and readers who do not use Chinese platforms are not affected by these rules.