Recently, the news about cracking down on illegal information starting from the New Year has been widely circulated, but the actual likelihood of it being implemented as regular enforcement is not that high.

Such policy news is often exaggerated by the media, and as netizens pass it around, it turns into a joke. If you really want to get to the bottom of it, you need to consider these points:

Is there really a "spread" out?
Is the "situation" severe enough?
Is there an "intent to profit or disseminate"?
Has it caused any actual social impact?

From a law enforcement perspective, resource allocation also has its focus - mainly on those types of mass actions, which are the primary targets for crackdown. Simple private chats are often not a priority for law enforcement.