This new legal arsenal effectively excludes the sacred from the digital sphere while increasing pressure on religious organizations, particularly on the Catholic Church.
Entitled "Regulations on the Online Behavior of Religious Clergy," the new text, structured into 18 articles, establishes a strict framework defining what religious personnel may and may not do online.
In fact, it looks more like a plagiarism of George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984. This regulation applies to all clergy operating in China, including those from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, as well as foreign clergy active on the mainland.
Only platforms operated by registered religious organizations (temples, churches, seminaries) registered by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with an official license to disseminate religious content online, may be used for preaching or religious teaching.
Personal social media accounts, live streams, groups on apps like WeChat, or unofficial forums are strictly prohibited from having any religious instruction or content. The risk of violating the rule is imprisonment.
There is another almost comical restriction imposed by the administration. A priest, for example, must not take advantage of his clerical status or his notoriety to increase his number of subscribers.
Furthermore, any advertising for foreign religious websites is also banned, under the offense of "foreign religious infiltration." It would therefore be an offense to share, for example, videos of the Pope's Wednesday audiences, which are broadcasted on the Vatican website.
"Extremist or heretical" speech, that disseminates superstitions or religious ideas that do not conform to the CCP's doctrine, is strictly prohibited, as are certain religious costumes, which could also be deemed "extremist."
One can imagine that a Chinese priest filming himself in a cassock would be taking certain risks.
Proselytizing among minors is, of course, prohibited, as is the organization of religious camps or training sessions for young people. Fundraising for religious causes, the sale of religious objects or books, etc., are also criminalized. All livestreamed content is also prohibited in order to exercise the strictest control.
Beyond regulating behavior, this text imposes a clear ideological alignment. Religious figures are required to uphold the CCP's line, promote socialist values, and adhere to the "sinicization" of religion, a concept that, in practice, requires religious doctrines to conform to the principles of a state that is fundamentally atheist and hostile to any idea of religion.
“While the document is couched in the language of ‘order’ and ‘harmony,’ its implications are stark. It effectively criminalizes spontaneous religious expression online, isolates clergy from global religious discourse, and places sacred speech under the watchful eye of state censors.”
“This is not the first time China has tightened its grip on religious life,” but the text promulgated on September 15 “may be one of the most technologically invasive. In the age of digital ministry, where sermons stream and prayers ping, the regulation feels like a deliberate attempt to unplug the sacred from the social.