Chinese police capture over 200 people for online illegality

BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese police captured more than 200 people suspected of illegally deleting posts and sensationalizing events on the Internet during a national campaign since May 2017, the Ministry of Public Security said Sunday.

Police also solved more than 40 such cases involving about 100 million yuan (about 15.88 million U.S. dollars), shutting down over 5,000 Internet accounts linked to illegal paid dissemination of rumors, the ministry said in a statement.

Nearly 10,000 such websites were shut down during the campaign, it said.

The ministry also published details on a series of such cases, in which the detainees were suspected of illegally influencing public sentiment and obtaining and reselling personal information.

The Cyberspace Administration of China issued a regulation Friday requiring microblog service operators to establish systems to address rumors found on their platforms.

Service providers should take measures to dispel such rumors once they discover false information has been published or spread by their users, the regulation said.

The CAC said that the regulation is aimed at ensuring the healthy and orderly development of microblogging services, protecting citizens' rights and interests, and safeguarding national security and public interests.Enditem