China-Singapore Jingwei, November 17 (Dong Xiangyi) Mark Twain once said: "When a lie crosses half of the earth, the truth is still wearing shoes."
On the 15th, Wanda’s chairman Wang Jianlin was reported to have passed away on the Internet. Then Wanda dispelled the rumors and blocked users on related platforms, but public opinion has not yet subsided.
Coincidentally, on November 16th, Suning refuted the rumor of "bankruptcy rumors"; in August this year, the founder of Gaoling refuted the rumors, Zhang Lei, was accused of rumors; that month, Lei Jun sent the rumors to the circle of friends to refute the rumors of the "investors rumors".
In July, the chairman of Hongxing Erke dispelled the rumors that it was “close to bankruptcy” and “fraudulent donations”; in June, the Galaxy Fund dispelled rumors that the chairman derailed female subordinates; in February, Huawei dispelled the rumors that the rotating chairman Xu Zhijun had resigned...
Rumors surrounding entrepreneurs and companies have emerged one after another. Why do such low-cost rumours spread to the Internet?
Which laws and regulations are violated by the rumors, and how much does it cost?
Behind the incident, what should we reflect on?
Rumors spread
A few days ago, the 67-year-old chairman of Wanda Group Wang Jianlin was rumored to have passed away on the afternoon of November 4. In response, Wanda Group’s official website directly posted a photo of Wang Jianlin presiding over the group’s high-level meeting to break the rumors.
According to the news, on November 15th, Wang Jianlin, chairman of Wanda Group, presided over the Wanda Group Innovation Work Promotion Meeting to implement the requirements of "Work is King, Innovation is Unlimited", and do a good job in group work innovation, management innovation, and business model innovation. The group will be selected at the end of the year. Innovation award.
Wang Jianlin's appearance at the meeting undoubtedly blocked the mouths of Internet rumors.
According to reports, Wanda said that the rumors of Wang Jianlin's death were rumours and had already called the police.
Source: Wanda Group's official website
On the same day, Toutiao issued a penalty announcement saying that at 21:21 on November 14th, Wei Toutiao user @身拥大海2 fabricated the news of the death of a well-known business person.
At 22:02, the Toutiao content quality team discovered and removed the rumor.
After verification, as of the time of deletion, the relevant content has been displayed 56 times and read 13 times, and the platform has permanently banned the user.
Wang Jianlin’s rumors have not yet subsided. On the morning of the 16th, Suning Group issued a statement stating that “Suning Tesco declared bankruptcy at the end of December” as a rumor and that the company’s operations are normal.
Suning.com has reported the case to the public security organs and will pursue legal responsibility for the rumors in accordance with the law.
Not only Wanda and Suning are troubled by rumors. In early August of this year, Zhang Lei, the founder of Netcom Hillhouse, was charged by the border.
In this regard, a related person from Hillhouse stated to Zhongxin Jingwei that the personal information about Hillhouse executives circulated on the Internet is seriously untrue, Hillhouse has reported the case to the police and reserves all legal rights of prosecution.
On June 23, the chairman of the Galaxy Fund was reported to have cheated on a female subordinate. In response, the Galaxy Fund issued an announcement stating that the WeChat chat records that slandered the chairman and employees of our company were maliciously forged.
The company and the parties have reported the case to the public security organs.
What is legal liability?
"Spoofing a rumors, dispelling rumors and running off legs", the topic of #万达就王健林逝言 meant to be posted on Weibo hot searches on the 15th. As of the time of publication, the topic has been read nearly 700 million, and more than 10,000 discussions have been discussed.
The spread of the incident is evident.
Weibo screenshot
What legal responsibilities should the rumors bear?
Attorney Zhai Qinrui from Beijing Shengchi Law Firm told Sino-Singapore Jingwei that from the perspective of civil liability, Article 995 of the Civil Code stipulates that if the right of personality is harmed, the victim has the right to request the perpetrator to bear it in accordance with the provisions of this law and other laws. civil liability.
The victim’s right to stop the infringement, eliminate obstacles, eliminate danger, eliminate influence, restore reputation, and make an apology does not apply to the statute of limitations.
From the perspective of administrative responsibility, Article 25 of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Public Security Administration Punishments stipulates: spreading rumors, falsely reporting dangers, epidemics, police information, or deliberately disturbing public order by other means. A fine of less than 500 yuan; if the circumstances are minor, detention for less than 5 days or a fine of less than 500 yuan.
From the perspective of criminal responsibility, Article 246 of the Criminal Law stipulates that if the circumstances are serious, those who blatantly insult others or fabricate facts to slander others by violence or other methods shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, surveillance, or deprivation of political rights.
Pan Helin, Executive Dean of the Institute of Digital Economy, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, told Zhongxin Jingwei, “The spread of Internet rumors is due to the nature of human beings who like gossip. Anthropologists believe that we humans can form concepts of abstract things and are happy to do so. The most important driving force for the spread of rumors on the Internet is the concealment of rumors on the Internet. On the one hand, rumors often believe that the law is not responsible for the public. On the other hand, rumors often believe that they are safe by hiding behind the Internet."
In an interview with Sino-Singapore Jingwei, lawyer Yang Baoquan of the Beijing Bank of China Law Firm also pointed out that my country's supervision of online speech is still weak, and it is in an active exploration stage whether it is in terms of means or technology.
The interactivity, low threshold, and directness of dissemination of social media make the content of online rumors diversified and inducible. Many netizens have uneven qualities and cannot judge the authenticity of online rumors. Many netizens are more entertained and sought after. Disseminate false information by disguising interests, blogging or venting in disguise.
What reflections are left?
It is worth mentioning that behind Wang Jianlin’s rumors, there is news in the market that “Wanda Commercial Management has submitted IPO materials to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is seeking to go public. This rumor is suspected that someone maliciously prevented Wanda from going public.” But this statement is not. It was confirmed by Wanda that, in addition, the final conclusion of the case has yet to be announced by the police.
On a larger scale, entrepreneurs play a vital role in the survival and development of enterprises, and they also have a strong influence in society.
At a lower level, the harm done to individuals and companies by spreading rumors is irreparable, and it will have a bad effect on the body and mind.
In an interview with China-Singapore Jingwei, a professor and well-known lawyer Tian Xiaoqiong of the Law School of Minzu University of China, said that in the past, Internet rumors were regarded as provoking quarrels. From a civil point of view, companies or individuals who were rumorsed could also be prosecuted through civil procedures.
"In fact, the impact of spreading rumors on the life of the harassed person is understandable. It touches two problems. One is that it seriously violates the legitimate rights and interests of the rumorsed and affects the peace of life. At the same time, it disturbs the social order. "
In fact, it is not uncommon for business leaders to be rumorsed. Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric, and Cao Dewang, founder of Fuyao Glass, have been involved in rumors many times.
In 2017, news about Dong Mingzhu’s “abdication” quickly spread wildly on the Internet. Dong Mingzhu himself came forward and reprimanded: “Some people can do whatever they want for their own benefit. It is wrong to make comments about a company. This is for the company. At the end of 2016, Fuyao Glass's establishment of a factory in the United States once spawned the topic of "Don't let Cao Dewang run away", and finally the deity came forward and responded that "I didn't run."
Dong Mingzhu data map
Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha, once said, "Let us conscientious and well-behaved companies avoid rumors. Let entrepreneurs and companies concentrate on doing their own things, instead of busy refuting rumors."
In 2017, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued a document "Opinions on Creating an Environment for the Healthy Growth of Entrepreneurs, Promoting Excellent Entrepreneurship and Better Utilizing the Role of Entrepreneurs." An atmosphere of public opinion, showing outstanding entrepreneurial spirit, condensing the positive energy of advocating innovation and entrepreneurship, and creating an atmosphere of public opinion that respects the value of entrepreneurs, encourages entrepreneurial innovation, and gives full play to the role of entrepreneurs.
Behind a series of incidents of refuting rumors, there is still a long way to go to protect the reputation of enterprises and entrepreneurs and crack down on rumors and crimes.
(Zhongxin Jingwei APP)
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