The rapid spread of the pneumonia epidemic in Wuhan, a city in northern China, has caused concern among many netizens, but also among the Chinese Communist Party authorities who have spoken out about strict control of the epidemic.
The rapid spread of the Wuhan pneumonia epidemic in the northern Chinese city has caused concern among many netizens. However, several netizens in Hebei, Jiangxi and Jilin have been detained or fined by police for “spreading false information” after posting online about confirmed cases. The Chinese Communist Party’s strict control over the epidemic’s rhetoric has raised concerns again.
Radio Free Asia reported that netizens in Hebei and Jiangxi spread unofficial news about the Wuhan pneumonia epidemic in WeChat groups and were subsequently punished by police for “spreading rumors” and “spreading false information.
The Bohaihuan News reported on the 12th of this month that the Public Security Bureau of the Fengnan District of Tangshan City, Hebei Province, recently received a report that someone had spread a rumor on social software that “I had a positive nucleic acid test result at the Fengnan District Chinese Hospital.” After the official verification, the content was published on social media by a man surnamed Chen in Fengnan District, who changed his negative nucleic acid report to “positive”, thus circulating on the internet and causing adverse effects. Chen was subsequently administratively punished by the Fengnan District Public Security Bureau in accordance with the law.
While some netizens spread false information about the epidemic, a resident of Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, surnamed Wang, said the police were overly sensitive to self-published information, reflecting the vulnerability of law enforcement officials and their hearts: “I think the government is afraid that the information released by the self-published media will disrupt their overall arrangement to fight the epidemic, which is to monopolize the right to speak. Even if what you say is true, it has to seal your mouth. It has a monopoly to fight against the epidemic and to have unified control over the epidemic news, which is to its advantage.”
In addition, the Public Security Bureau of Shunping County, Baoding City, Hebei Province, recently administratively detained three people for “spreading rumors, violating privacy, falsifying facts and disturbing order.
The police have also sent the information to the WeChat group on Jan. 10, and the police have sent Zhang Moumou and Zhou Moumou to administrative detention. The police said that it is not allowed to spread information about the identity of people involved in the epidemic online, do not spread rumors, spread dangerous situations and epidemics, do not disturb public order and create social panic, but officials did not disclose why the three people spread the content.
In this regard, Beijing rights activist Ni Yulan believes that the authorities’ strict control over Internet news is to monopolize social information: “I think that’s to keep people from coming to talk, if anything happens, you can’t talk, you have to keep your mouth shut.”
Strict control of Internet speech Anyone involved in the epidemic was immediately arrested
A man in Fuzhou, Jiangxi province, was detained by police after he was accused of spreading rumors about the Wuhan pneumonia epidemic through the Internet. “Fuzhou Release” WeChat public number reported on Jan. 11 that on the evening of Jan. 8, a man from Hebei Province who entered Fuzhou was found to be suspected positive for Wuhan pneumonia, but after risk screening and laboratory test results, the man was ruled out of having Wuhan pneumonia. In the evening of the same day, some netizens spread the news that “this diagnosed student has just died” on the WeChat group. The next day, the high new public security bureau will be involved in the case of Wang Mou detention, and “Wang Mou fictitious facts to disturb public order” for the reason that he was sentenced to administrative detention for 5 days.
In response, Fang Liang, a scholar from Taiyuan, Shanxi province, said in an interview with Radio Free Asia that police around the country have recently detained a number of alleged rumor spreaders: “The reason for this is that the epidemic is breaking out all over the country and official information about the epidemic is not told to the public. Only when the epidemic can no longer be concealed can we see what is going on.”
Hengshui Public Security Bureau recently spread the news that a netizen spread the news of “6 people in Lingshou County diagnosed with New Crown Pneumonia” on WeChat group, but after Shijiazhuang Internet Reporting Center verified the news with the relevant areas, it was called a rumor. Netizen Lu was subsequently punished by the public security department and publicly apologized on the WeChat group where he spread the rumor.
On January 8, the Hengshui City Internet Information Office and the city’s Public Security Bureau issued a notice to crack down on Internet rumors, especially those about the epidemic.
In response, U.S.-based scholar Guo Baosheng told Radio Free Asia that the Chinese Communist Party authorities have adopted an information monopoly to cover up the truth about the epidemic: “The Chinese Communist Party wants to monopolize information sources, crack down on information from sources different from it, and punish, convict, detain, and fine people for rumors at every turn, which is very cruel.”
On January 6, a man surnamed Han in Handan City, Hebei Province, posted on a WeChat group that “there is a person with suspected new crown pneumonia in Dongzhuchang Village, please do not go to Dongzhuchang”.
On Jan. 11, a man surnamed Nie in Changchun, Jilin Province, was detained for 7 days and fined 300 yuan after posting a new coronavirus notice on a WeChat group in the name of the Jutai District Disease Control Center, claiming that “an asymptomatic person has been infected” in the district, reports Law.com.
On December 19, 2020, The New York Times cited more than 3,200 official directives and 1,800 memos and documents revealing how Chinese authorities have used various channels to control media coverage of the Wuhan pneumonia outbreak in mainland China since the beginning of 2020, including tightly controlling information about the outbreak since early January and silencing news that “whistle blower” Li Wenliang had died of the disease.
The report mentions that the documents are computer code and internal documents from the Internet Information Office in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province and China Yunrun Big Data Service Co. The software developed by the company is used by the local government to monitor and manage a large amount of online speech.
The documents were provided to the New York Times and the nonprofit news organization ProPublica by a hacker group calling itself C.C.P. Unmasked.
As a result, many dissidents, human rights activists, and human rights lawyers have been suppressed and persecuted for posting on topics that differ from the official position or fighting for people’s rights, and have lost their jobs, relatives, or even their lives.
The Twitter account “Voice of Tibet” tweeted on the evening of January 13 that a Tibetan in Quzhen chose to set himself on fire in September 2015 in protest of the Chinese Communist Party’s policies against Tibet, but that it took five years for the outside world to learn of the Tibetan’s death because “the Chinese Communist Party has imposed strict control on all information channels in Tibet.
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