{"id":164115,"date":"2013-10-17T16:32:41","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T23:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=164115"},"modified":"2013-10-18T08:45:41","modified_gmt":"2013-10-18T15:45:41","slug":"two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Bloggers Detained as Rumor Crackdown Expands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reuters reports that two more influential\u2014or “Big V”\u2014bloggers have been detained amid the Xi administration’s ongoing crackdown on Internet rumors<\/a>. Dong Rubin, owner of an Internet consulting company who had been in detention since September 20, has been arrested in Kunming, and cartoonist Wang Liming is now in police custody in Beijing<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

Dong Rubin, 51, who runs an Internet consulting company, has been arrested in southwestern Kunming on “suspicion of falsely declaring the capital in his company’s registration”, state news agency Xinhua said late on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

[Dong’s lawyer] Yang said Dong believed he was “fundamentally innocent” in his actions on the Internet.<\/p>\n

[…] In Beijing, the capital, cartoonist Wang Liming was taken into custody at midnight on Wednesday and has not yet been freed, his friend, Wu Gan, told Reuters by telephone.<\/p>\n

Wu said police told Wang’s girlfriend they summoned him for forwarding a microblog post about a stranded mother holding a baby who had starved to death in the flood-hit eastern city of Yuyao.<\/p>\n

“Suppression of this kind by the Chinese government is of no use,” Wu said. “Rumors arise because there’s no freedom to communicate on the Internet. Arresting people will not solve the problem because the problem does not lie with the people, but with the government.” [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[Update: Wang has since been released from custody<\/a>, as was brought to CDT’s attention by a reader]. These are the latest detentions in a crackdown on online rumors, and come after the Supreme People’s Court issued a legal interpretation last month sanctioning fines and prison time<\/a> for “rumor-mongers.” Hundreds have been detained since Beijing launched the campaign in August<\/a>, including high-profile microblogger\u00a0Charles Xue<\/a>, muckraking journalist Liu Hu<\/a>, and 16-year-old Yang Hui<\/a>. With no end to this\u00a0crackdown on highly influential web users<\/a>\u00a0in sight, some have refused to be silenced<\/a>\u00a0by the campaign.<\/p>\n

A report from Caixin outlining the ongoing crackdown evokes a warning from the late Deng Xiaoping<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

In the name of protecting social order, officials have taken steps to outlaw what they call rumors. Websites in China are indeed plagued by all kinds of rumors. Just ask movie or sports stars. In some cases, baseless rumors do, in fact, constitute defamation. China has laws targeting defamation; the challenge is how to enforce these laws fairly and strictly.<\/p>\n

Then, there is another type of rumor \u2013 for lack of a better word \u2013 that worries regulators. This is the rapid spread of so-called political rumors, and it is the real target of the latest round of regulation. People who criticize the government on the Internet must now weigh the risk of being arrested.<\/p>\n

[…]\u00a0Deng Xiaoping, China’s paramount leader and the architect of reform, openly criticized the tendency of officials to crack down on so-called rumors. “Problems related to people’s thoughts shouldn’t be handled by suppressing them,” Deng said in his speech at the meeting. “Tracking someone’s political background or the so-called political rumor upon hearing any discussion, especially somewhat critical discussions among people, and making it a legal case to crack down on that, this bad behavior must be resolutely stopped.”<\/p>\n

In contemplating a new round of reform, Deng’s warnings are more relevant than ever. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also see China Copyright and Media’s translation of a lengthy article by the director of People’s Daily Public Opinion Monitoring Unit on the rumor crackdown, arguing for a more pragmatic approach to moderating online activity<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reuters reports that two more influential\u2014or “Big V”\u2014bloggers have been detained amid the Xi administration’s ongoing crackdown on Internet rumors. Dong Rubin, owner of an Internet consulting company who had been in detention since September 20, has been arrested in Kunming, and cartoonist Wang Liming is now in police custody in Beijing: Dong Rubin, 51, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":985,"featured_media":164116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10,14744,14745,14746,100,5,1051],"tags":[16289,269,92,6304,4667,6863],"class_list":["post-164115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law","category-level-2-article","category-level-3-article","category-level-4-article","category-politics","category-society","category-top-article","tag-big-v","tag-blogs","tag-crackdown","tag-internet-control","tag-online-public-opinion","tag-rumors","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nTwo Bloggers Detained as Rumor Crackdown Expands<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Two Bloggers Detained as Rumor Crackdown Expands\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reuters reports that two more influential\u2014or “Big V”\u2014bloggers have been detained amid the Xi administration’s ongoing crackdown on Internet rumors. Dong Rubin, owner of an Internet consulting company who had been in detention since September 20, has been arrested in Kunming, and cartoonist Wang Liming is now in police custody in Beijing: Dong Rubin, 51, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Digital Times (CDT)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-17T23:32:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-10-18T15:45:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Rumors.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"517\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"364\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Josh Rudolph\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Josh Rudolph\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Josh Rudolph\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/66545362d1132ed39c00e1a8989b04d8\"},\"headline\":\"Two Bloggers Detained as Rumor Crackdown Expands\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-17T23:32:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-10-18T15:45:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/\"},\"wordCount\":568,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Rumors.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Big V\",\"blogs\",\"crackdown\",\"Internet control\",\"online public opinion\",\"rumors\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Law\",\"Level 2 Article\",\"Level 3 Article\",\"Level 4 Article\",\"Politics\",\"Society\",\"Top Article\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/\",\"name\":\"Two Bloggers Detained as Rumor Crackdown Expands\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Rumors.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-17T23:32:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-10-18T15:45:41+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Rumors.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Rumors.jpg\",\"width\":517,\"height\":364},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Two Bloggers Detained as Rumor Crackdown Expands\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\",\"name\":\"China Digital Times (CDT)\",\"description\":\"Covering China from Cyberspace\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\",\"name\":\"China Digital Times\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg\",\"width\":186,\"height\":177,\"caption\":\"China Digital Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/cdt\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/66545362d1132ed39c00e1a8989b04d8\",\"name\":\"Josh Rudolph\",\"description\":\"Josh Rudolph finished an MA in Asia Pacific Policy Studies at UBC's Institute of Asian Research in 2013. He currently lives in British Columbia.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/author\/josh-rudolph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Two Bloggers Detained as Rumor Crackdown Expands","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Two Bloggers Detained as Rumor Crackdown Expands","og_description":"Reuters reports that two more influential\u2014or “Big V”\u2014bloggers have been detained amid the Xi administration’s ongoing crackdown on Internet rumors. Dong Rubin, owner of an Internet consulting company who had been in detention since September 20, has been arrested in Kunming, and cartoonist Wang Liming is now in police custody in Beijing: Dong Rubin, 51, […]","og_url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/","og_site_name":"China Digital Times (CDT)","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes","article_published_time":"2013-10-17T23:32:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-10-18T15:45:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":517,"height":364,"url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Rumors.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Josh Rudolph","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cdt","twitter_site":"@cdt","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Josh Rudolph","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/"},"author":{"name":"Josh Rudolph","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/66545362d1132ed39c00e1a8989b04d8"},"headline":"Two Bloggers Detained as Rumor Crackdown Expands","datePublished":"2013-10-17T23:32:41+00:00","dateModified":"2013-10-18T15:45:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/"},"wordCount":568,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Rumors.jpg","keywords":["Big V","blogs","crackdown","Internet control","online public opinion","rumors"],"articleSection":["Law","Level 2 Article","Level 3 Article","Level 4 Article","Politics","Society","Top Article"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/","url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/","name":"Two Bloggers Detained as Rumor Crackdown Expands","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Rumors.jpg","datePublished":"2013-10-17T23:32:41+00:00","dateModified":"2013-10-18T15:45:41+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Rumors.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Rumors.jpg","width":517,"height":364},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/10\/two-bloggers-detained-rumor-crackdown-expands\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Two Bloggers Detained as Rumor Crackdown Expands"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/","name":"China Digital Times (CDT)","description":"Covering China from Cyberspace","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization","name":"China Digital Times","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg","width":186,"height":177,"caption":"China Digital Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes","https:\/\/x.com\/cdt"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/66545362d1132ed39c00e1a8989b04d8","name":"Josh Rudolph","description":"Josh Rudolph finished an MA in Asia Pacific Policy Studies at UBC's Institute of Asian Research in 2013. He currently lives in British Columbia.","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/author\/josh-rudolph\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/985"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}