Popular micro-blogger pleads guilty to spreading false online rumors

A former popular Chinese micro-blogger pleaded guilty on Friday to fabricating online rumors to agitate the public.

Beijing prosecutors charged Qin Zhihui, better known by his online name, Qin Huohuo, with defamation and provocation by creating and spreading rumors on the Internet.

Qin, 30, from Hunan province, was the first accused person taken to court after a police crackdown on companies that spread rumors on websites for profit. A number of people were arrested last year on suspicion of fabricating information to harm others' reputations.

Wearing grey clothes, Qin was taken to the courtroom at 9 am. He smiled at his five family members sitting in the public gallery.

Chaoyang district prosecutors said that Qin invented and disseminated rumors about four celebrities, including popular TV hostess Yang Lan and China Disabled Persons' Federation president Zhang Haidi, via Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.

Qin posted an item in December 2012 claiming that Zhang held Japanese nationality. In July 2013 he wrote that Yang was involved in fake donations.

The two micro blogs were later shown to be false. But they negatively impacted Zhang's and Yang's reputations, the prosecutors said.

"I just wanted these celebrities to reply, because in this way I could arouse more people's attention and attract more online followers," Qin said during the trial.

The defendant also posted an item in August 2011 saying that the government had paid more than 200 million yuan ($32.7 million) in compensation for a foreign passenger who died in a high-speed train accident in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, a month earlier.

That post was retweeted 12,000 times in two hours and provoked anger among Chinese Internet users. The report was later refuted by what was then the Ministry of Railways.

"I thought such information could draw a lot of attention and might push the ministry into a tight corner. I didn't think about the consequences," Qin said, adding that numerous netizens left comments after reading and believing his post.

Sun Xiaoyang, Qin's lawyer, said that someone else had been using Qin's micro blog account to post rumors "because the account was still working after my client was arrested".

Some of the rumors that prosecutors attributed to Qin originated in Zhongshan and Shenzhen in Guangdong province, "but my client had never been to these two cities, let alone surfed the Internet there", Sun said.

Therefore, it is necessary to make clear which micro-blogging account started the rumors instead of blaming Qin blindly, she said.

Qin said that he did not know what happened to his account, though he admitted posting false information.

He apologized to the four celebrities he had targeted and told his parents he was sorry. He bowed to his mother, which made her cry.

"I disregarded the law as I posted micro blogs online. I disappointed my family. I hope other micro-bloggers will learn a lesson from my case," he said.

The hearing lasted for about six hours, but the court did not announce its judgment.

Current Chinese law lays out broad principles forbidding various forms of online misbehavior, including the spreading of false information, defamation, blackmail or provocation.

In September, China's top court issued an interpretation that lists specific criteria for rendering judgments.

Under the court's interpretation, Internet users who spread rumors that are defamatory or harm national interests can be jailed for up to three years if the posts are viewed 5,000 times or forwarded 500 times.

caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn