Special operation to clean up the Internet | Internet police investigated and dealt with 2 online rumor cases involving Geelong mudslides in accordance with the law
After the landslide disaster occurred in Gyirong, Tibet on August 26, 2026, a very small number of netizens ignored the overall disaster relief situation, seized on hot spots of the disaster to gain attention, and fabricated false information in the comment area of disaster reports to mislead the public.
Recently, the Internet Police investigated and dealt with two cases of rumor spreading in the comment areas of news videos in accordance with the law:
Case 1:
On August 26, a netizen named Zhou (male, 38 years old) from Xiangxi, Hunan, arbitrarily fabricated and exaggerated false numbers of victims and missing persons in the comment area below a Tibet mudslide disaster report on a short video platform, and posted sensational messages, causing unnecessary panic among the masses.
At present, the local public security organs have imposed administrative penalties on Zhou in accordance with the law and ordered him to delete untrue remarks and eliminate negative network influences.
Case 2:
On August 27, Xu (female, 43 years old), a netizen from Shaoyang, Hunan, made subjective assumptions and made up false claims about the cause of the disaster in the comment area of a disaster-related news video, distorted the truth about the disaster, and misled the public.
At present, after being verified and dealt with by the local public security organs in accordance with the law, Xu took the initiative to delete the rumor-mongering comments, accepted criticism and education, signed an Internet law-abiding guarantee, and promised to consciously regulate his words and deeds online.
Legal link
Article 29 of the "Public Security Administration Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China":
Anyone who commits any of the following acts shall be detained for not less than five days but not more than ten days, and may also be fined not more than one thousand yuan; if the circumstances are relatively minor, he shall be detained for not more than five days and not more than ten days, or fined not more than one thousand yuan:
(1) Deliberately spreading rumors, falsely reporting dangers, epidemics, disasters, police situations, or deliberately disrupting public order in other ways;
(2) Disrupting public order by releasing false explosive, poisonous, radioactive, corrosive substances or infectious disease pathogens and other dangerous substances;
(3) Threatening to commit arson, explosion, dropping dangerous substances and other criminal acts endangering public safety and disrupting public order.
"Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China" Article 291-1, Paragraph 2
Crime of fabricating and deliberately disseminating false information: Whoever fabricates false dangers, epidemics, disasters, or police information and disseminates it on information networks or other media, or knowingly disseminates the above-mentioned false information on information networks or other media, thereby seriously disrupting social order, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, or surveillance; if serious consequences are caused, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years.
