"Anti-Rumor" Campaign Heats Up

[Randy W]

This has been in the news a lot in the last week or two.

 

Anti-rumor campaign picks up speed

 

More determined than most but as clueless as many, he tried a myriad of ways to get into the spotlight. He peddled along Subway Line 10 in Beijing to promote his Sina Weibo account. Nicknamed Qin Huohuo, he even danced awkwardly on the street. These moves met with limited success, but then he hit upon a new idea - spreading rumors.

Qin, together with the founder of his company, Yang Xiuyu, were accused of engaging in illegal business operations after the police said they had illegally profited from their rumor-spreading actions.

The two were also charged with "provoking trouble," as thousands of followers reposted their rumors about the Red Cross Society of China and the Wenzhou train crash of 2011.

Figures such as the hero soldier Lei Feng and major-general of the People's Liberation Army Luo Yuan, were also targeted by Qin. He claimed that Luo was a deserter and his family were presently living in the US as well as saying that Lei Feng had never been a model soldier and had in fact led a lavish life.

When Qin was detained, authorities warned that "opinion leaders" involved may soon follow. These comments did indeed herald the beginning of an anti-rumor campaign by the Ministry of Public Security of unprecedented scale. Two others were detained for similar reasons on the same day as Qin and Yang were put into criminal detention.

One day later, a Shenzhen resident was detained, and on August 23, Liu Hu, a journalist with the Guangzhou-based newspaper New Express, was detained in Chongqing for fabricating rumors.

Zhou Lubao, a self-proclaimed whistle-blower, was also arrested for allegedly publishing negative reports online and then extorting those involved, according to a statement from the Ministry of Public Security on Sunday. Shanghai Police also reported that they had arrested a rumor-monger.

 

 

[Randy W]

The campaign heats up . . .

 

New anti-rumor policy faces its inaugural test

 

A 16-year-old schoolboy, identified by his surname Yang, was arrested at his junior high school in northwestern China's Gansu Province last week. The teenager's alleged crime involved online posts in which he suggested police had beaten the relatives of a man who accidentally died and suggested that protests must be carried out. The message was reposted many times, resulting in hundreds of people gathering at the scene of the death and causing serious traffic congestion.

[Allon]

Yes, my wife has mentioned that someone got arrested for even mentioning how many were killed in an earthquake.

 

China, China. Where are you going? My wife is getting afraid of going back.

[Randy W]

from the Global Times

Crackdown ‘protects free speech’

 

 

It speculates that online defamation will be regarded as "serious" if the post of false information has received 5,000 visits or has been reposted more than 500 times.

This means the person who posted the rumor will be subject to the country's Criminal Law and face up to three years in prison.

"There has been some misinterpretation by the media," said the official, adding that the new rules only target the spread of rumors and will not affect normal online discussions.

The official further rejected the idea that the new ruling oppresses freedom of speech.

"Cracking down on online rumors helps protect freedom of speech. Rumors will destroy our cyberspace. No country in the world would allow such a thing," said the official.

Hong Daode, a law professor with the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Saturday that defamation should not be shaped by the pursuit for freedom of speech.

"There is a clear line between questioning and creating and spreading rumors. If you know something that is untrue and you purposely bring it up in the form of questioning, that too will be seen as defamation," said Hong.

The latest campaign, jointly launched by the Ministry of Public Security and other government bodies in order to crush online crimes, has resulted in the detention of hundreds of people.

 

[Randy W]

More heat (article in the Global Times) -

 

Hundreds targeted in online blitz

 

 

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has punished 256 people for spreading online rumors that jeopardized social stability and another 139 for spreading extreme religious ideas during a recent crackdown on Internet crimes, local authorities confirmed to the Global Times Tuesday.

Several people received admonitions, while 16 were put under criminal custody from June 26 to August 31, Hou Hanmin, deputy director of the publicity department under the region's Party committee, told the Global Times Tuesday.

Most people involved in these online crimes are not well educated and some of them are unemployed, and spread extreme religious ideas gaining thousands of followers, Fan Guanghui, an official with the region's public security department, told the Global Times.

In one case in Hotan county, a farmer uploaded two gigabytes of e-books about secessionism.

 

[Randy W]

Attention now going to "soft violence"

 

A possible victim of internet exuberance

 

Be wary of public opinion veering to ‘soft violence’

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/818578.shtml?utm_content=bufferf842b&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=Buffer#.UmDbW9J9efM

 

A local official in Yuyao, the city in Zhejiang Province recently hit by a typhoon, was removed from his post for accepting a piggyback ride through flood water from a village leader.

 

. . .

 

According to a Beijing Youth Daily interview with both the village leader and the official himself, they were fellow villagers and good friends. The official had intended to take off his shoes to wade through the water before he was stopped by the village leader, who insisted on piggybacking him through the water. Further, the official was not wearing "expensive shoes" as cited on Weibo, but a pair of 100 yuan ($16.39) shoes made of cloth

 

. . .

 

Public opinion is an absolutely necessary force for supervising the authorities in modern civilization. But this force cannot be overused as a form of "soft violence."

Besides assertiveness and courage, it needs to be more prudent and objective, making their voices impersonal and constructive for the public's benefit.

 

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

Yes, my wife has mentioned that someone got arrested for even mentioning how many were killed in an earthquake.

 

China, China. Where are you going? My wife is getting afraid of going back.

 

Oh surely you can't be serious? Ai WeiWei got himself into a pickle regarding the Chendu earthquake, but he has a habit of stirring the beehive. To be sure, there is truly nothing to fear in China, especially when compared to America. Americans used to say, "Never shout 'fire' in a movie theater." Well, that is precisely what these Chinese idiots are doing, and I am happy to see the rumor spreaders get busted for it. When it comes to rumors, Chinese people latch onto them like a conspiracy theorist at a big foot convention. China doesn't like the truth when it goes against their political agenda; for example, Tiananmen, the number of children killed in the Chengdu earthquake, air pollution, prostitution. But, as for spreading rumors; well, why not stake the the rumor creators to an anthill for a few hours.....

 

 

Edited October 19, 2013 by GuangDongExpat (see edit history)

[amberjack1234]

 

Yes, my wife has mentioned that someone got arrested for even mentioning how many were killed in an earthquake.

 

China, China. Where are you going? My wife is getting afraid of going back.

 

Oh surely you can't be serious? Ai WeiWei got himself into a pickle regarding the Chendu earthquake, but he has a habit of stirring the beehive. To be sure, there is truly nothing to fear in China, especially when compared to America. Americans used to say, "Never shout 'fire' in a movie theater." Well, that is precisely what these Chinese idiots are doing, and I am happy to see the rumor spreaders get busted for it. When it comes to rumors, Chinese people latch onto them like a conspiracy theorist at a big foot convention. China doesn't like the truth when it goes against their political agenda; for example, Tiananmen, the number of children killed in the Chengdu earthquake, air pollution, prostitution. But, as for spreading rumors; well, why not stake the the rumor creators to an anthill for a few hours.....

 

 

 

I can't agree with you more but it is my belief and that of my wife that the action that is now taking place on the rumor control issues are directly related to the recent many busting and reporting wrongdoing of government officials more than rumor (lies) control. They don't want the netizens reporting and exposing these government officials on line and then the government does not have any choice but to take action against the party involved. Like the watch guy (a gov official) smiling at the scene of a Chinese citizen that had gotten killed. Then later photos of him wearing about 6 different 10-20 thousand US dollar watches on a salary of 800 RMB per month. I actually think that this is the incident that started all of this or at the very least one of them.

 

Larry

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

I can't agree with you more but it is my belief and that of my wife that the action that is now taking place on the rumor control issues are directly related to the recent many busting and reporting wrongdoing of government officials more than rumor (lies) control. They don't want the netizens reporting and exposing these government officials on line and then the government does not have any choice but to take action against the party involved. Like the watch guy (a gov official) smiling at the scene of a Chinese citizen that had gotten killed. Then later photos of him wearing about 6 different 10-20 thousand US dollar watches on a salary of 800 RMB per month. I actually think that this is the incident that started all of this or at the very least one of them.

 

 

Larry

 

 

Yes, agreed that it is not wise in China to openly criticize anyone who holds an advanced position relating to the government. China wants to advance a certain agenda that agrees with the CCP. The CCP has a long history of silencing critics, but they are slowly changing and by and large have the support of most Chinese citizens. Still, when it comes to true rumors in China, there are plenty of private citizens out there who make false claims. These are the people China says they are trying to stop, and they are prosecuting many of them.

[amberjack1234]

 

I can't agree with you more but it is my belief and that of my wife that the action that is now taking place on the rumor control issues are directly related to the recent many busting and reporting wrongdoing of government officials more than rumor (lies) control. They don't want the netizens reporting and exposing these government officials on line and then the government does not have any choice but to take action against the party involved. Like the watch guy (a gov official) smiling at the scene of a Chinese citizen that had gotten killed. Then later photos of him wearing about 6 different 10-20 thousand US dollar watches on a salary of 800 RMB per month. I actually think that this is the incident that started all of this or at the very least one of them.

 

 

Larry

 

 

Yes, agreed that it is not wise in China to openly criticize anyone who holds an advanced position relating to the government. China wants to advance a certain agenda that agrees with the CCP. The CCP has a long history of silencing critics, but they are slowly changing and by and large have the support of most Chinese citizens. Still, when it comes to true rumors in China, there are plenty of private citizens out there who make false claims. These are the people China says they are trying to stop, and they are prosecuting many of them.

 

I agree with you again Jes, if anyone is caught spreading lies on the internet whether it is against a citizen or gov official he or she should be prosecuted.

 

Somehow I don't think that this whole campaign is concerned with the average citizen. They are trying to get the people to think so but..... What does the gov care if a citizen tells a lie about another citizen on the internet but if it is a lie about a gov official that's a horse of another color. I still think that the whole thing is about making the average citizen think twice about taking a picture of a gov officials in the back seat of a car with a 14 year old girl etc, etc and embarrassing the gov. Kind of intimidating them, the average citizen, into not posting everything that they see gov officials doing that is not quite kosher. In the past year or two the average citizen with cell phone camera's have brought a lot of corrupt officials to be brought to court and punished in some way. Like the two policemen that just recently watched and did nothing while that teenage girl was stabbed to death not 10 feet away. Their boss initially said that they had done nothing and if it had not been shown on the internet I'll bet my bottom dollar that no action what so ever would have ever been taken against them. Then there was the gov official that followed the little girl into the bathroom and assaulted her and security cameras recorded all of it except the actual assault. He was later found guilty but it was only after a fight. I just used three gov officials that just came into my mind but this is in no way just a gov official problem. I am just saying that because it is the gov that is trying to silence the public and deter them from posting what they see on the internet for the whole world to see. They don't give a crap about what one citizen says about another citizen.

 

As I have said China is changing but it is still slow. What it will take is for the ones that are in power now to die off and a new breed to come in with different morals It is just going to take time. Most, not all, wealthy Chinese are tarred with the same stick. They think that they are above the law. Many rich Chinese people are doing the same thing that gov officials are. We read about it all the time.

 

I can't help but remember just a short time ago here in the US where a young Chinese man was attending a college here in California, I think, and he ran a stop sigh and killed a young girl. Here came mama with a suitcase full of money and got him out of jail and of course promised that she would see that he would return for his trial. Good luck on that one.

 

The same thing can be said for Amanda Knox too. She will never go back to Italy.

 

Sorry for ranting. I just hate to see injustices done and go unpunished. I must be too much of a law abiding citizen I guess. Perhaps I should get out and break some law more frequently I guess.

 

 

Larry

[Randy W]

This story is written in a convoluted way, but, basically, it involves a Beijing-based reporter for a U.S.-based website which publishes stories which are supposedly false, to questionable to misleading. Rumor crackdown spreads to overseas websites

Xiang has published many false stories on US-based Chinese website "Boxun" (boxun.com) since 2009 under the username "Feixiang," which means "flying" in Chinese, it said. In 2013 alone, Xiang posted more than 1,300 articles, nearly a third of the stories the website published that year.

 

. . .

 

These stories twisted facts or were fabricated, which seriously damaged China's image and caused an extremely negative impact after being forwarded many times by overseas media, the statement said.

 

Xiang confessed to his crimes and expressed his regret, China Central Television reported.

 

. . .

 

Boxun issued a statement on its website on Tuesday, protesting the arrest of Xiang, whom it described as a "Boxun reporter," and claimed that it had always sought to report the facts.

 

"We have limited resources and have depended on volunteer reporters. We've never used high payment to gain reports," it said, adding that Xiang had never "actively" sought payment from the website.

 

Boxun.com was founded in 2000 and is blocked in China. It is known for running sensational stories including petitions, unrest, and alleged corruption by senior Chinese officials.

 

Boxun was involved in a defamation law suit filed by Chinese film star Zhang Ziyi in 2013. It later apologized to Zhang and admitted it had never confirmed the allegations about Zhang sleeping with senior officials and wealthy businessmen for $115 million.

 

"It has become common practice that some people visit foreign websites to learn about sensitive information that is seldom published on domestic websites," said Wang Zhanyang, director of the Political Science Department at the Central Institute of Socialism.

 

However, it doesn't mean false information could easily fool Net users because people have developed their screening ability in telling the difference, Wang said.