However, the transmission power is also apt to be misused as some would repost messages without verifying their accuracy and thus help spread rumors, he said.

"Some reposts from the high-profile users concern topics that they are not familiar with, and some are without any verification," he said.

China launched the campaign against online rumors after the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate issued a guideline in August defining the criteria for convicting and sentencing offenders who spread rumors online.

Several high-profile users, including Dong Liangjie, a self-proclaimed environmental protection activist, have been detained for spreading rumors.

The campaign has been influential, with the account activity of some high-profile users decreasing, Shan said.

Zhan Jiang, a communications professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said the Internet will continue to pose challenges to traditional media, such as newspapers and TV stations.

Shan said the research institute has also monitored a decrease in the activity of micro blog users, mainly due to challenges from other new media patterns such as WeChat, a popular voice-messaging app.

"The decline is normal, because all Internet platforms must face the challenge of users getting bored after three to four years," he said.

China has more than 331 million micro-bloggers, of which 190,000 have more than 100,000 followers and 3,300 have more than 1 million followers.

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