Beijing police detain online 'rumour-mongers' in veiled warning to liberal opinion leaders

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Screen shot of CCTV report on the arrest of Qin Zhihui, one of the suspects detained in a crackdown on "online rumour-mongering." Photo: SCMP Pictures

Published: 9:10am, 21 Aug 2013Updated: 1:17pm, 24 Aug 2013

In a unusually well-publicised police operation, Chinese state media reported on Wednesday that Beijing police have detained and launched criminal investigations into four people in an attempt to “eradicate the breeding ground for internet rumours”.

Police said Erma, a Beijing-based internet marketing company, spread rumours about poor governance and official corruption in China to increase their influence on social media and gain financial benefits. Lengthy stories about the misdeeds of the alleged rumour-mongers splashed across the front pages of many official newspapers on Tuesday, and featured prominently on major news websites. State-run mobile phone companies also sent messages of the news to hundreds of thousands of customers.

The Sina Weibo account of Erma's founder Yang Xiuyu.

The arrests coincide with a concerted government campaign to discredit outspoken liberals and crack down on dissent since Xi Jinping became president. In April, a secret Communist Party Central Committee circular called on cadres to crack down on subversive forces within Chinese society.

Rumours spread by Erma employees over the last few years have been widely shared by well-known “public intellectuals” and liberal commentators with many followers, Wu Boxin, a professor at the Peoples’ Public Security University of China told the Beijing Times. He said those spreading the rumours have been linked with China’s most prominent advocates of political reform.

According to state media reports, Qin Zhihui, one of those detained on Tuesday on suspicion of "making trouble and operating an illegal business", had allegedly been previously employed by a company owned by Charles Xue, or Xue Biqun, a venture capitalist and prominent liberal internet commentator. Better known by his alias "Xue Manzi," the billionaire venture capitalist claims more than 12 million followers on the popular social media platform Weibo.