Administrative and legal penalties side by side: online rumour-mongers to be blacklisted

Case summary

On 28 July 2019 the Hongkou District Public Security Sub-bureau issued a police notice stating that a internet user posting under the name "@Andyhy stand-in" had repeatedly posted on Sina Weibo alleging that Shanghai economic crime police officers were acting as a "protective umbrella" for an individual and claiming to hold evidence and leads. The Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau took the matter seriously and the discipline inspection and supervision department contacted the poster, Huang (male, 34), for an interview and carried out checks on what he had reported.

The checks showed that Huang had long-standing personal grievances with Zhou and Hu and, to vent his private anger, had deliberately fabricated and posted the material. The alleged name of a Shanghai economic crime police officer connected with Hu was entirely fictitious. Huang admitted the unlawful conduct and expressed deep regret. His conduct amounted to provoking a disturbance, and the police imposed an administrative detention on him in accordance with law.

The police warned that the internet is not outside the law and that all unlawful and criminal conduct online will be firmly investigated and punished in accordance with law, and reminded internet users not to believe, spread or invent rumours, so that together a clean and harmonious online environment may be created.

On 29 July 2019 the Hongkou District Public Security Sub-bureau issued a further notice on the case: on 28 July it had imposed a five-day administrative detention on Huang for provoking a disturbance, but because Huang has a fracture of the right calcaneus which the hospital confirms requires surgery as soon as possible, the police have decided in accordance with law to suspend execution of the detention.

The law explained

Many internet users were unhappy that Huang's detention was suspended because of a fracture, since the timing was a remarkable coincidence and the law does contain such a provision.

Article 19 of the Regulations on Detention Centres provides that where a detention centre finds that a detainee falls within any of the following circumstances it shall recommend that the authority which ordered the detention decide to suspend execution:

(1) the detainee suffers from a mental illness or from an infectious disease requiring isolation and treatment;

(2) the detainee's condition is serious and may endanger his life.

Article 19 of the Measures for the Implementation of the Regulations on the Administration of Detention Centres provides that when or after a detainee is taken in, the detention centre shall, on finding that the detainee falls within any of the following circumstances, issue a notice recommending suspension of execution and recommend that the authority which ordered the detention decide accordingly:

(1) the detainee suffers from a mental illness or from an infectious disease requiring isolation and treatment;

(2) the detainee's condition is serious and may endanger his life;

(3) the detainee cannot look after himself;

(4) the detainee has left the centre for medical treatment and cannot be cured within a short period.

The authority which ordered the detention shall decide at once whether to suspend execution and notify the detention centre.

The decision to suspend execution of Huang's detention because of his fracture was therefore entirely lawful.

Online rumour-mongers to be blacklisted

In recent years many self-media accounts, marketing accounts and internet personalities have invented and spread rumours for profit or private gain with no regard for the truth, leaving the victims of those rumours in great distress. Legally, a rumour-monger may be punished under the relevant laws and regulations according to the seriousness of the consequences, but in practice the penalties imposed in many online rumour cases are not severe. In this case, for example, Huang was detained for only five days, a penalty far too light to satisfy public anger or to deter others.

To manage the invention and spreading of online rumours more effectively, the Cyberspace Administration of China recently sought public comment on the Measures for the Administration of Credit Information on Entities Seriously Breaching Trust in Internet Information Services (draft for comment).

Under the draft, the cyberspace authorities, together with the relevant departments, would apply blacklist management and joint punishment for breaches of trust to entities which, in providing or using internet information services within China, commit serious breaches of trust. In future, fabricating, publishing or disseminating information online that contradicts social morality, business ethics or good faith, or deliberately providing technical, equipment or other support or services for the fabrication, publication or dissemination of such information, where this seriously disrupts the order of communication in cyberspace, harms the public interest or the lawful rights and interests of the people and causes egregious social effects, would be severely punished, and the entity concerned would be placed on the blacklist and subjected to measures restricting engagement in internet information services, restricting online conduct and barring entry to the sector. The draft provides that a blacklisting normally lasts three years.

Spreading online rumours is a cancer of the information age, and administrative management is keeping pace by introducing corresponding measures. Restraining rumour-mongers administratively and punishing them legally run in parallel and do not conflict. Together they can better restrain and deter those who spread rumours online, make them pay a higher price for doing so, and sooner restore a clean and harmonious environment of public opinion online.