Four marketeers held for spreading online rumours
Four internet pranksters are taken into custody in connection with online hoaxes, attacks on national icons and for engineering starlets
Beijing police have detained four employees of an internet marketing company for allegedly creating and spreading thousands of online "rumours" against the government, national "role models" and celebrities, official media reported yesterday.
Stories allegedly concocted by Erma, a Beijing-based firm where the four were previously employed, included attacks against the former Ministry of Railways and the propaganda icon Lei Feng, and creating internet "stars" Guo Meimei and Luo Yufeng, police said.
Police have previously detained individuals for spreading rumours online, including terrorist hoaxes, but Erma is the first company to face such accusations.
Police said their investigation would extend to some internet celebrities, who one of the detained said had reached an agreement with him on forwarding each others' posts, the Beijing Evening News reported.
Some fear the move is a warning to outspoken celebrities on the web after a government-sponsored conference last week asked them to abide by "seven bottom lines" on the use of social media to avoid harm to the economy, the state or individuals.
Rumours spread by Erma employees over the last few years have been widely shared by well-known "public intellectuals" and liberal commentators.
Qin Zhihui, one of the four detained on Tuesday, had allegedly been previously employed by a company founded by a friend of Xue Biqun, a venture capitalist and prominent liberal internet commentator. Better known as "Xue Manzi" with more than 12 million followers on the popular social media platform Weibo, the billionaire venture capitalist invested in the company in 2010.