Netizens surf online at an Internet cafe in Dongguan, Guangdong Province. Photo: CFP

On Wednesday, Beijing police announced that they had detained two men who were suspected of fabricating online rumors and maliciously harming the reputation of others. Yang Xiuyu, founder of the Erma Company, and employee Qin Zhihui created and spread online rumors and gained huge profits from their illegal acts, Beijing police told Xinhua News Agency.

In some extreme cases, Qin fabricated rumors such as that the Chinese authorities had paid 20 million yuan ($3.3 million) in compensation to foreign victims who were injured in a high-speed-rail crash near Wenzhou in July, 2011 that killed 40 people.

The rumor went viral on Weibo and was reposted thousands of times, stocking public anger towards the government for supposedly favoring foreigners over its own citizens.

The recent case has aroused hot discussion among the public, in an era when rumors easily go viral on the Internet, especially on Weibo. Web users fiercely discussed the boundaries of free speech on the Internet, who should take responsibility for constraining and squashing the widespread rumors and how to ensure the authenticity of information.

"Some Weibo users frequently fabricate information, spread rumors, assault, slander or criticize others groundlessly, which can easily damage public trust in Weibo," said Shen Yang, an expert on Internet communication from Wuhan University.

Netizens, especially Weibo celebrities, should distinguish the true from the false before making a post or reposting those of others to help nip rumors in the bud, Shen said.

According to Sina Weibo, the company has dealt with 180,000 Weibo posts that are suspected of containing false information or personal attacks.

Both central and local authorities should increase the cost of making and spreading rumors and impose harsh penalties on those responsible, Shen noted.

Central and local governments have taken practical measures to fight against Weibo rumors and cranked up supervision on online public opinion.

In May, the State Internet Information Office (SIIO) launched a campaign to crack down online slander and rumor-mongering, closing a batch of Weibo accounts found to have been creating and spreading rumors, Xinhua reported.

On August 10, over 10 Weibo celebrities, including writers, real estate developers, scholars and officials, were invited to attend a forum on "online responsibilities and ethics" rallied by the SIIO, Legal Daily reported.

Weibo celebrities should shoulder their social responsibilities by correctly guiding public opinion, Lu Wei, head of the SIIO, told attendees on the meeting.

Usually, posts from Weibo celebrities garner thousands of reposts and become a sensation online. The huge influence of these famed microbloggers has also become a hotbed for the spread of rumors and unverified information.

Singer Wu Hongfei was recently banned from being followed by other Weibo users while all her posts have to be examined and verified by Sina Weibo's management committee before being posted.

"How come they can censor a singer's Weibo posts? Is it because I refused to sleep with the old officials?" Wu posted on Weibo Monday.

The review mechanisms imposed on Wu's Weibo account originated from a Weibo post that she sent out on July 21, one day after petitioner Ji Zhongxing set off a homemade explosive device at Beijing Capital International Airport.

Wu posted on her Weibo account that she wanted to bomb the neighborhood committee of the Beijing Talent Exchange Center as well as the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

Even though she deleted the post within 20 minutes, Wu was arrested by police the same day and detained for 10 days, for falsifying a terrorist threat. She was eventually released on August 2, China Central Television reported.

Wu is not the first to be punished due to "improper" remarks made online. Ren Jianyu, 25, was arrested in 2011 and given a two-year term in a labor camp for "incitement to subvert state power", for forwarding and commenting on more than 100 pieces of "negative information" online.

"With intensifying social conflicts, some netizens who make extreme online post might cause severe consequences. They might be considered to be violating the law, such as infringing on public security or subverting state power, during some sensitive times," Liu Haiming, head of the journalism department in Southwest University of Science and Technology, told the Global Times.

"Netizens, especially Weibo celebrities with a lot of followers, should speak and act properly and rationally."

Respect the law

Wu's case aroused huge controversy among the public, with some analysts believing the local authorities had come down overly hard.

"Wu is muddle-headed. We can tell from her Weibo posts that she was just venting her anger, but her words could have sparked a panic among the public, considering the Beijing airport explosion happened the day before she sent out her post," He Sanwei, a former colleague of Wu, told the Global Times.

He said that netizens, especially Weibo celebrities, should have the self-consciousness to constrain their words and acts. "Opinion leaders should firstly shoulder the responsibility of speaking rationally and setting good examples to the public," He said.

According to Chinese law, online posts that infringe others' rights and interests may be punishable by law. Those found responsible are liable to face criminal prosecution. For instance, someone charged with falsifying public security would face three years in prison, as stipulated by public security management regulations.

Avoiding sensitive topics

Weibo may have failed to shoulder its responsibility of offering a free platform for users to express themselves and exchange opinions, due to authorities cranking up supervision, analysts predicted.

"It is normal that users found posts were deleted without them being notified. Weibo is not a type of media where users can enjoy absolute freedom of speech, especially when discussing sensitive topics," Liu Haiming told the Global Times.

Sina would have to delete related posts if publicity bodies issue orders for the deletion of some posts regarding sensitive topics, such as spreading rumors about officials, splitting the nation, or jeopardizing public security, Liu noted.

How to distinct the boundary of sensitive topics and "safe zones" and how to distinguish truth from falsehoods has become a thorny problem for most Weibo users, especially celebrities, in an age of information overload.

Some users say Weibo censorship is like a sword hanging over their heads.

"Users have no idea how far they can go if they want to make remarks on particular topics. In this way, it is easy to accidentally cross a line and become a thorn in some officials' sides," one political commentator who has over 120,000 fans on Sina Weibo, told the Global Times on condition of anonymity.

He was interrogated by local police and asked not to make "radical" remarks on Weibo after he signed his name on an open letter calling for the release of Xu Zhiyong, a Beijing-based civil rights campaigner who was detained recently.

Today he is mostly inactive on Weibo, only reposting others' posts in recent months.

"The supervision on Weibo is tightening, and we see an increasing number of posts being deleted," the commentator said, adding that he had seriously considered transferring from being a political commentator to being a columnist about sex and relationships.

Despite still writing posts insulting the Beijing construction commission, singer Wu Hongfei says she dares go no further for fear of offending the authorities again. "I have been taught a lesson," she said.

Balanced voices

Weibo companies have already set up internal monitoring mechanisms to regulate users' posts.

"We encourage users to click on the 'tip-off' button if they find any post that infringes on their interests or is suspected of spreading fake information. We would first block it and then decide whether or not delete it after verifying," a spokesperson for Tencent Weibo, who asked not to be named, told the Global Times.

Any posts that have violated the law or are related to "sensitive words" cannot be sent out on the platform, he noted.

Sina Weibo also set up a neighborhood association to help manage and supervise its contents.

"I have tried to avoid some sensitive topics, especially those related to politics, when I write Weibo posts," Yang Jinzhu, a lawyer with more than 70,000 followers, told the Global Times.

Yang said he hadn't blogged on Sina Weibo for more than half a year, because Sina Weibo 'wants to control his influence and examine and verify his posts before they are posted.'

Social critic Li Chengpeng has been ordered not to update his Sina Weibo account for at least a month after he posted a sarcastic post on the death of watermelon vendor Deng Zhengjia who was allegedly beaten to death by city management officials.

It remains unknown when exactly Li will be able to post again as he couldn't be reached by the Global Times as of press time.

"Departments should not intervene too much with online content. After all Weibo celebrities are verified with their real names, and they would have to endure legal consequences if they violated the law," Liu said.

After control measures were intensified in response to radical statement and rumors, many users switched from Sina Weibo to WeChat, a mobile instant-messaging application which is gaining in popularity.