Internet rumors hurt people, really can’t be managed?
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Recently, Ms. Wu in Hangzhou was secretly filmed video and spread rumors "derailed courier brother" when she was taking delivery.
Earlier, a girl diagnosed with new crown pneumonia in Chengdu, Zhao, was slandered by artificial rumors; a parent of a student in Guangzhou fabricated "the teacher physically punished students to vomit blood". These online rumors have attracted widespread attention.
The lawyer reminded that the Internet is not a place outside the law. Temporary "venting of personal anger" and "eyeballing" may bring sanctions under criminal law.
Ms. Wu from Hangzhou, Zhejiang never thought that she would be pushed into the whirlpool of online rumors.
In July of this year, she was secretly photographed by Lang while picking up the express at the district express station.
After that, Lang and He played "Brother Express" and "Female Owner", fabricated unintelligible WeChat chat content, and sent a 9-second screenshot of the video and chat content to the car friends group, and then forwarded it to the community Rumors of the owners group, such as "the rich lady cheating on the express brother", immediately fermented.
"You only use a mouth to spread rumors, but you have to run off your legs to refute them."
In many incidents, rumors concocted false information at low cost, and some people even spent money to buy popularity to fuel Internet rumors.
Plug in the "wings" of the Internet, and Internet rumors often run faster, spread more widely, and are more destructive than the truth.
At the same time, "by-products" that easily violate citizens' rights, such as online violence and human flesh searches, will follow.
The lawyer pointed out that cyberspace is not a place outside the law, and cyber rumors are not unlawful.
If fabricating and disseminating false information constitutes Internet rumors, rumors, disseminators, and Internet service providers may all bear corresponding civil and even criminal liabilities.
Rumor victims are trapped in a whirlpool
As of June 2020, the number of Internet users in my country has reached 940 million.
Network rumors and other bad or even illegal information appear from time to time.
According to the China Internet Integrity Development Report released in 2020, 66.6% of respondents often encounter Internet rumors.
Public figures such as entertainment stars are the "hardest hit" of online rumors, but in recent years, the problem of online rumors has spread to ordinary people's lives.
Rumor makers often deliberately fabricate the so-called "truth" and "information" without facts, even at the expense of personal battles, self-direction and performance, low-cost concoction of text, pictures, videos and other content and upload them to social platforms and online platforms. To achieve the purpose of sensation.
Behind the spread of the rumors, there are victims who are trapped in a whirlpool.
In the Hangzhou “Women's delivery of express delivery was spread rumors” incident, the victim Ms. Wu's work and life were completely disrupted, and she was deeply troubled by gossip and malicious slander.
Ms. Wu was later persuaded by the company to resign and was diagnosed as depressed by the hospital.
Recently, Zhao, a girl diagnosed with new crown pneumonia in Chengdu, was maliciously spread rumors and slandered by some netizens. Personal information including photos of Xiao Yao (a pseudonym), another Hunan girl, was also posted on the Internet and was rumored to be the confirmed girl Zhao. Both of them suffered online. violence.
Rumors are fierce than tigers. In addition to causing physical and psychological harm to the victims, they may also cause social harm.
On May 30th, Liu Mou, a head of a Guangzhou family, posted on Weibo that his daughter was corporal punished by the head teacher to vomit blood and uploaded photos of clothes and shoes with blood, which attracted the attention of many netizens.
However, after investigation and verification by the police, it was found that Liu had deliberately fabricated lies in order to expand his influence. The police also found relevant evidence that Liu was suspected of hiring personnel to conduct online hype.
"I was still sad for her yesterday, but today I completely reversed it. The rumor makers consumed public sympathy and undermined the credibility of education." A netizen said in a Weibo message.
In view of Liu's behavior seriously disturbing public order, bad social impact, and suspected of provoking disturbances, the police filed a case for investigation and transferred him for prosecution.
Low-cost processing is only for eyeballs
"Venting private anger" and "bo eyeballs" are the reasons why some rumors fabricate and spread false information.
In January of this year, Liang from Changfeng County, Hefei City, because of conflicts with Liang Mouyun and Liang Mouchen’s parents, fabricated the rumor that "the two villagers in Zhuxiang Town, Changfeng County returned from Wuhan with fever symptoms" and spread it. The party’s information and contact number; Lang, who fabricated the rumors of the "rich woman cheating on the express brother", said that the rumors were just "joking", but according to the police report, Lang and He were motivated to "get eyeballs."
The attention economy is prevalent, and in the eyes of some rumor makers, traffic brings benefits.
"In practice, there are some illegal transactions, such as spending money to buy enthusiasm, which fuels Internet rumors." Zhao Hu, a partner of Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm, said in an interview with a reporter from Workers' Daily that there are interests behind some Internet rumors. chain.
According to public information, in the "Teacher's Physical Punishment Case for Counterfeiting Blood Clothes and Rumors", the rumorer Liu paid 760 yuan to Ma for services such as "adding fans", likes and forwarding.
Later, Ma subcontracted to an illegal network platform, causing the Weibo of "Physical Punishment of Asthma Children in Guangzhou Primary School to Hematemesis Rescue" and was forwarded more than 1.4 million times.
"The cost of spreading rumors is too low, the punishment is too light, and some online information makes it difficult to distinguish between true and false," and many netizens said that "the online rumors have been bitter for a long time."
In a survey of 164,000 people voted by Xinhuanet.com, nearly 20% of netizens said that it is difficult to distinguish online rumors, and there are also cases of "assist" being forwarded after being deceived by rumors.
Zhao Hu pointed out that the Internet is not illegal.
If fabricating and disseminating false information constitutes internet rumors, the rumors and spreaders may bear civil or even criminal liability.
The reporter learned in the interview that after encountering Internet rumors, many victims are not clear about the specific legal procedures, and at the same time worry about the economic, time and energy costs, they are often easy to give up their rights protection, leading to the eventuality.
After spreading the rumors, we should not stop at "apologizing"
"What I can do is to use my rights protection to deter other people who are guilty of lawlessness in the society, and to provide a little bit of reference for similar victims to protect their rights in accordance with the law." On December 10, "The rich woman cheated on express delivery." Ms. Wu, the victim of the "little brother" rumor, spoke through the video, expressing her desire to make her misfortune more valuable and meaningful.
Ms. Wu has filed a private criminal prosecution for defamation in the court.
On December 14, the People's Court of Yuhang District, Hangzhou City accepted the case.
Zhao Hu pointed out that the law stipulates that citizens have the right to reputation.
The Civil Code, which will be officially implemented next year, clarifies that civil subjects have personality rights, which include the rights of portrait, reputation, and privacy.
If the right of personality is violated, the victim has the right to require the perpetrator to bear civil liability in accordance with the law.
"If the circumstances are serious, it may be suspected of violating the criminal law." Zhao Hu said.
According to relevant judicial interpretations, if the same defamatory information is actually clicked on, viewed more than 5,000 times, or reposted more than 500 times, it can be deemed "serious" and may constitute a crime of defamation.
"After discovering the rumors, they must promptly file a complaint on the online platform, and the platform party should assume its own responsibilities." Zhao Hu prompted.
According to Article 36 of the Tort Liability Law, “Where network users use network services to commit infringements, the infringed person has the right to notify the network service provider to take necessary measures such as deletion, blocking, and disconnection of links. The network service provider has not If necessary measures are taken in time, the network user shall be jointly and severally liable for the enlarged part of the damage."
The laws and regulations governing Internet rumors are still being improved.
According to the provisions of the Civil Code, network service providers shall promptly forward the relevant network users after receiving the notice of infringement.
Internet users can submit a statement that there is no infringement.
The network service provider shall forward the statement to the obligee who issued the notice and inform it that it can file a complaint with the relevant department or file a lawsuit with the people's court.
On November 20, the People's Court of Baiyun District, Guangzhou City sentenced the defendant Liu in the “corporal punishment case of forging blood clothes and spreading rumors” to 1 year and 6 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.
Public security and courts in many places reminded the public to distinguish right from wrong, be cautious in their words and deeds on the Internet, and never touch the legal red line.
Zhao Chen