Two arrested in China’s Rumour Crackdown

Tiantian Liu,

Correspondent (Asia: Far East)

 

BEIJING — The police in Beijing have arrested two online ‘rumour mongers’ on August 21 for allegedly fabricating and spreading rumours online. These two ‘rumour mongers’ Qin Huohuo (real name Qin Zhihui) and Li’erchaisi (real name Yang Xiuyu) were detained under the criminal charges of ‘starting quarrels and provoking trouble’ and ‘illegal operation of business’. This is a prologue of an anti-rumour campaign led by the State Public Security Bureau of China.

Zhihui and Xiuyu were influential figures on Weibo (the Twitter counterpart in China). According to the police, they have conspired rumours to gain followers through social media.  Xiuyu is the founder of Erma Company, which runs a lucrative ‘black PR’ business where Zhihui worked at. The company has harvested profits of more than 10 million yuan in 7 years from various online rumours.

Police said that they have fabricated more than 3,000 rumours over the years. Many of the rumours they initiated have gone viral on the internet, including the accusation that the Chinese government had granted 200 million yuan in compensation to an Italian passenger who died in the 7-23 Wenzhou train crash. They have also allegedly defamed the legendary communist Samaritan role model in China, Lei Feng, as being corrupt and profligate with contentious, if hilarious, phrases as: ‘In 1959, Lei Feng would have needed 90 yuan to afford his high-grade leather jacket, woollen pants, and black leather boots, but his monthly pay was only 6 yuan!’ Zhihui was apparently reported by Netizens to the Beijing Public Security Bureau for, ’making rumours slanderous to the image of Lei Feng’.

Both Zhihui and Xiuyu have confessed the crimes to police and admitted they had said net users should be manipulated into believing that they are the, ‘victims of social injustice‘ and only ‘anti-social activities could help them vent their dissatisfaction’, state media reports.

However, the arrest of the two has raised debates and worries among the Netizens in China. Many of them think the Beijing authority is simply playing double standards, as the government propaganda departments are seen as the biggest rumour mill. Only those who fabricate and spread rumours that harm the credibility of the government will be punished. Also, it is entirely up to the authority to decide whether a rumour would ‘provoke social instability and trouble‘, which make the whole campaign more like an ideological witch hunt. A crackdown on the rumour mongers would do nothing but take away freedom of speech (which is pretty dim already) in the online community in China. The government should realise that the causes of the growing popularity of rumours are due to declining government credibility and the lack of general social transparency.

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons (B!ttu); Ecow (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons