China waging war on online porn, rumors

China's war against online crimes including disseminating rumors and pornography has stepped up recently. A Beijing court on Thursday gave Internet rumormonger Qin Zhihui, known online as "Qinhuohuo," a three-year jail term for defaming celebrities and the government. Earlier in the week, Charles Xue, also known as Xue Manzi to his 12 million followers on Sina Weibo, the Chinese Twitter clone, apologized to the public for spreading online rumors. Xue was arrested in October on charges of having had group sex with prostitutes and "instigating disturbances," a term used to refer to online rumormongering. But he was released on bail after suffering a "serious illness," Beijing police said on Wednesday. The repentance of both Qin and Xue holds great significance in the context of booming Chinese cyberspace. The number of Chinese netizens has exceeded 610 million. There are 143.9 million active users of microblogging platform Sina Weibo, and more than 300 million users of Weixin, or WeChat, which allows people to send text, photos, videos and voice messages over mobile phones. While the public enjoys faster communication and more platforms to voice opinions on issues ranging from pollution to official corruption, the government is working to curb the pervasiveness of online rumors, as some star bloggers, or "big Vs," are using their influence for personal gain, impacting society and harming social order.