Photo: Screenshot of video from Hongxing News

A Chinese internet influencer has been administratively punished for fabricating an incident involving a Chinese primary school student traveling in Paris, France, purportedly leaving his winter vacation homework behind during a February trip to attract viewers on social platforms, the Hangzhou police in East China's Zhejiang Province announced on Friday.

According to police statements, they received a complaint from a netizen accusing the 29-year-old female influencer, surnamed Xu, of spreading rumors online.

After investigation, they discovered that Xu and her 30-year-old colleague, surnamed Xue, had orchestrated and fabricated a series of videos claiming to have found a winter vacation homework exercise book in Paris belonging to a Chinese primary school student named Qin Lang.

They then purchased the exercise book online, filmed and produced the series of videos with a cellphone, and distributed them across multiple online platforms, resulting in negative influence.

The public security department has since administratively penalized the company where Xu and Xue work.

Police warn that they will crackdown on illegal activities such as malicious speculation, fabrication, and dissemination of rumors or false information online, which disrupt public order, in accordance with the law.

Xu also uploaded an apology video on the video-sharing platform Bilibili on Friday evening, expressing deep regret and remorse for fabricating and uploading the videos due to her lack of legal awareness.

She admitted that the situation escalated beyond her expectations, causing widespread reposts and discussions, disrupting online order, and having a significant negative impact, consuming public resources, and polluting the online environment, for which she deeply reflected on and apologized.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, a national campaign to crack down on online rumors has achieved phased results, with the ministry announcing 10 typical cases, including the "Qin Lang lost his winter homework in Paris" case handled by public security organs in East China's Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

Global Times