Faster Than the Speed of Light

By+Yuan+Yuan

Before the release of director Jiang Wens new movie Gone With the Bullets in December 2014， the news that he had died blew up online.

Vivid and detailed stories of his death abounded， including details of how his family found him.

“I am still alive， but it would seem I died a few times this year，” Jiang said after the rumors arose.

True or false？

As early as September last year， the Internet was rife with rumors that Jiang was dead.“I was astonished to hear I was dead，” said Jiang. “I didnt understand why people wanted to spread this rumor.”

Jiang has not been the only victim of such rumors. In 2012， Li Yuchun， a pop singer was rumored to have died during cosmetic surgery. In 2010， it was alleged that Eric Tsang， a Hong Kong movie star， had died of a heart attack while watching the FIFA World Cup.

For other celebrities， tales of divorce have cropped up seemingly out of nowhere. “We were the last to know we had already divorced，” joked Li Xiang， a hostess and President of Mango Media Group. “Our apparent separation has been rumored a number of times.”

Normally， it is hard to track the origin of such rumors. “We can do nothing but get used to it，” said Li.

However， dealing with false reports on other matters is not so simple.

In November 2014， posts online claimed that the local government in Shangri-La， southwest Chinas Yunnan Province， forcibly demolished residents houses and two children had been buried alive.

The posts shared a picture of two dead children and the posts were forwarded and shared online. Later， the news was proved to have been fabricated， with the picture coming from an old story about an earthquake.

Chinas police forces have said they will trace the origins of such rumors and bring the perpetrators to justice.

According to a 10-clause judicial interpretation issued by Chinas top court and procuratorate on September 3， 2013， people who post slanderous comments online will face up to three years in prison if their statements are reposted. The interpretation will serve as a means for authorities to ensure the healthy development of the Internet.

The new rules say that people will face defamation charges if the online rumors they create are viewed by at least 5，000 Internet users or shared 500 or more times.

In April 2014， Qin Zhihui， known as Qin Huohuo in cyberspace， became the first person to appear in court on rumormongering charges since the adoption of these new rules.

Qin， born in 1984， was accused of creating and spreading rumors about Chinese celebrities and the government. He spread rumors via microblogging platforms from December 2012 to August 2013. He claimed that Beijing had granted 30 million euro in compensation to a foreigner who died in a train crash in east Chinas Zhejiang Province in 2011.

The rumor was reposted 11，000 times and commented on 3，300 times， with Qins fabrications inciting anger over apparent disparities in how foreigners and Chinese people were compensated.

“I just wanted people to see what I had posted and make netizens discuss them，”he told the court when asked by prosecutors why he spread the rumors.

Qin was sentenced to three years in prison for defamation and disrupting order.

In July 2014， China announced its intention to redouble its efforts to rid cyberspace of slanderous content and dish out heavier punishments for Internet rumormongers.

The joint statement issued by the Ministry of Public Security， Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Internet Information Office said the move aims to “protect Chinese Internet users rights in their life， work and studies，”while urging netizens to help in “cleansing cyberspace.”

It said a nationwide campaign to crack down on rumors is already underway. A number of websites have been closed， it said， adding that close to 40 Internet rumormongers had been investigated and punished.

Running rumors

On January 18， at the Summit on Legal Regulation of Media Coverage in China， the report on online rumors for 2014 was released. The report is based on 124 online rumors in 2014， analyzing the characteristics of these rumors and what triggered netizens to post them online.

“Online rumors have become a severe risk for society，” said Tang Jun， a professor with the School of Public Administration and Policy in Renmin University of China.

Among these 124 rumors， 28 percent concerned political news， 24 percent pertained to economic news， 22 percent were about celebrities with the remaining 26 percent relating to general day-to-day life.

Rumors in the last category included false information suggesting that having babies in the Year of the Goat is bad； that eating pears can prevent you from getting cancer； that wet wipes are poisonous； and that drinking fruit enzymes is good for the skin.

“Such rumors sound more moderate than other varieties of rumors， but can cause people to change their lifestyle for the worse and cause unnecessary anxiety，” said Tang. “The more widespread a rumor becomes， the more people believe it and this can lead to price increases as people buy excess of that good， driving up demand.”

“I dont know when it began， many of my friends start to make fruit or vegetable enzymes at home and they tried to persuade me to do it too，” said Zhang Licheng， a 38-year-old Beijing resident. “They told me it is simply putting the peels of fruits or vegetables， like banana， pineapple， potato， apple， pear， and anything that you can find in the kitchen， into a big jar and put some water in and seal it for a couple of months. Then you can drink it.”

“People have made different recipes for such enzymes， but the nutritious value of such products is hard to discern，” said Yang Nianhong， a nutrition professor with Huazhong University of Science and Technology. “The price of some enzyme products in the market is very high and they claim to be good for peoples health. This cant be true.”

“Such rumors might have been concocted by these very same companies to convince more people to buy their products，” said Tang.

In 2010， Zhang Wuben who claimed to be a traditional Chinese medicine doctor， said mung beans were good for the health and people should eat mung beans every day， which resulted in the price of mung beans rising sharply from 4 yuan （$0.63） per 500 grams to 10 yuan （$1.6）. Zhang was later proved to be a fraud.

The rumors were made out of various motivations. According to the report， 37 percent are made for money. A small number of the rumormongers did it just because “life is boring.”

“I spread this rumor simply for revenge，” said Fu Xuesheng， born in 1966. Fu is the president of Shanghai LabInfo Technologies Ltd.

In 2012， Fu released an online post claiming that U.S. tech company Agilent Technologies bribed an official of Sinopec Group， identified only by her surname Zhang， with two male prostitutes at an exclusive club in Beijing.

Fu claimed that the U.S. company beat him in the bid for a contract to provide machinery for a Sinopec plant in Wuhan， central Chinas Hubei Province， after they used photos to blackmail Zhang.

“To prevent online rumors， those responsible for them should be punished severely，” said Tang. “Online rumors have brought great harm to the country， society and individuals.”