news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

Recently, a self-media article titled "A girl from another province died in my rented apartment" attracted widespread attention, and topics such as "33-year-old woman starved to death in a rented apartment" were frequently searched. The descriptions in the article about the woman's cause of death, the university she graduated from, and her experience of "taking the civil service exam" in her hometown have aroused great discussion and doubts among netizens.

According to multiple media reports, many details disclosed in this self-media article have been confirmed to be untrue by multiple official channels. For example, the deceased did not "enter a 211 prestigious university in Beijing" (the truth is: she was a junior college graduate and graduated from the North China University of Technology, a non-211 school); her family did not "throw away her ashes like garbage" (the truth is: the ashes were scattered into the river according to local customs); the deceased did not "repeatedly obtain the first place in the written examination of the hometown's public institutions" (the truth is: she took two public institution examinations and one civil service examination, but did not enter the interview stage).

This article, which has attracted widespread attention, has been deleted from its original public account, but it is easy to find online. Screenshot from the Internet

On the morning of August 22, a reporter from Upstream News (reporting email: [email protected]) searched for the WeChat public account "Zhenguan" and could no longer find it. Although the official account of "Zhenguan" can still be seen on Tencent, the article "A girl from another place died in my rented apartment" was not found. So, how did this "tear-jerking article" that attracted huge public attention come about and spread? Which details described in the article have been falsified by relevant departments? In the face of the frequent occurrence of self-media fabrication and fraud, what legal responsibilities should the relevant individuals and platforms bear? Upstream News reporters conducted an investigation on this.

A top-tier "tear-jerking article"

On August 16, the nationally well-known WeChat public account "Zhenguan" published an article titled "A girl from another place died in my rented apartment." The author of the article, "Twelve Oaks," said in the article that a woman was suspected to have starved to death in his rented apartment in Xi'an.

"Twelve Oaks" stated in the article that the woman was born in 1991, from the Xihaigu mountainous area of ​​Ningxia, graduated from a 211 university in Beijing, and was an accountant by profession. She was looking for a job in Xi'an before the incident. After graduation, the woman took the civil service exam and won the first place in the written exam of the public institution (exam) in her hometown many times, but failed the interview again and again. In April this year, the woman rented a 50-square-meter apartment rented by the author, and the rent for half a year was more than 10,000 yuan. After the woman's parents borrowed money to help her pay, she blocked her parents and said that the relationship between the two was not good. In June this year, the woman had not contacted the outside world for many days, and was later found dead in the rental house. It was suspected that she starved to death, and the police intervened. The article also stated that the woman's family threw away her belongings and planned to throw away her ashes.

Obviously, this is a tear-jerking "refreshing article" that easily resonates with people. Many of the details revealed are shocking, and it is very easy to cause a large number of netizens to forward it. One article said that it describes human nature and indifference, and tells the rise and fall of a dream, which made many netizens feel involved and suffocated. Therefore, "the article was flooded with messages this weekend."

As the article went viral on social media platforms, topics such as "33-year-old woman starved to death in rental house" and "Police respond to woman starved to death in rental house" became hot searches on multiple social media platforms, and many Weibo topics were read tens of millions of times, triggering a large number of comments and reposts from netizens. For example, "I read it through and cried all the way through", "After reading the whole article, I felt very sad; I seemed to understand her, but also seemed not to understand her", "No matter how difficult it is, you will get through it and be good to yourself in adversity", "Believe that you will have good luck one day and live strong. Otherwise, you will really be defeated by reality."

It is understood that the WeChat public account "Zhenguan" is a well-known self-media with a slogan of "having attitude and warmth", with large daily traffic. Judging from the comments on the online platform, there are quite a few netizens who believe that this article is true, no matter from the details to the ending.

Many details were found to be distorted

Upstream News reporters combed through public reports and found that when this article was widely forwarded, there were constant voices of doubt. Some netizens even wrote a questioning article, refuting the article from the details to the ending (starvation): In addition to the fact that it is difficult to make up a story about someone dying in a rental house, many other details do not stand up to scrutiny.

At the same time, many news media across the country conducted in-depth interviews on the matter and launched investigations and verifications on the details that netizens questioned and were concerned about. The media's questions mainly focused on the following details mentioned in the article, such as "It is very likely that she starved herself to death in the room", "She was admitted to a 211 prestigious university in Beijing", "The mother borrowed more than 10,000 yuan to transfer to her daughter to pay for the house", "After graduation, she was determined to take the civil service exam and won the first place in the written exam of the hometown public institution (exam) many times, but failed the interview again and again", etc.

A village in Liupanshan District, Guyuan City. It is said that the woman in question has lived here since she was a child. Photo courtesy of Benliu News

Officials from Guyuan City, Ningxia, told the media that the online article claiming that the deceased woman Chen Moumou "placed first in the written examinations of public institutions (examinations) many times" was untrue, and her best score was only 25th. It is reported that according to the investigation of the county-level human resources and social security department, no evidence of the woman entering the public examination interview was found. The woman took the Ningxia public institution unified examination in 2018 and 2019, and her written examination rankings were 133rd and 65th respectively; she took the Ningxia civil servant unified examination in 2022, and her written examination ranking was 25th, and she did not enter the interview stage.

Regarding the woman's claim that she was "admitted to a 211 university in Beijing", a major person in charge of a township government in Guyuan City said that Chen was not admitted to a 211 university, but studied at a junior college in Beijing, and later was admitted to the Northern Jiaotong University through a junior college to undergraduate program. This school is also not a 211 school.

Regarding the claim that "the mother borrowed money to pay for her daughter's house." According to the investigation, Chen's family's economic conditions are at a medium level in her hometown. Her parents' main income comes from growing crops. The old couple also do odd jobs nearby and can earn more than 100 yuan a day. "Her brother works in a chip company in Xi'an and just got married last year. Her family conditions will not let her starve to death in the house." The township government official said that the Chen family has a minimum living allowance quota in the name of Chen's father and will receive a subsidy of 300 yuan per month. The 10,000 yuan that was transferred to Chen was not borrowed by her mother from others.

Regarding the claim that the father threw her ashes "like garbage", it was reported that local township government officials learned from Chen's father that according to local customs, his daughter's ashes had been scattered in a river in Shaanxi.

Since the online article said that Chen "most likely starved himself to death in the room", "starved to death" became the title word used in many self-media articles, which greatly increased the influence of the incident and also caused the public to question the rationality of its speculation. The family of the deceased told the media: "The police did not classify it as starvation or suicide, and we ourselves have not reached a conclusion (cause of death)."

"Many rumors on the Internet are untrue. I hope the truth can be revealed to the deceased!" A villager told the media that after Chen's death, her parents almost collapsed, lost interest in farm work, and cried every day. "People are all made of flesh and blood. I hope everyone can pay more attention to the lives of the elderly."

"Zhenguan" official account's statement on deleting the article in question. Webpage screenshot

After being questioned by the public, the "Zhenguan" public account deleted the above article. On the 19th, "Zhenguan" issued a statement saying that the article was contributed by the author, the facts had been reviewed, and the evidence would not be disclosed to the public; the crime scene was not in Xi'an, and it apologized for the misunderstanding caused; the article was deleted out of respect for the deceased, protection of the author, and avoidance of distorted interpretation and excessive speculation.

Many self-media outlets were fined for making up stories

Upstream News reporters sorted through public reports and found that in the past two to three years, there have been many self-media accounts or teams in China that have fabricated scripts, made up stories, and staged photos to gain traffic.

On February 16 this year, the internet celebrity blogger "Thurman the cat, one cup" with nearly 40 million followers released a video saying that a Frenchman handed her two winter vacation homework books on the streets of Paris, saying that he had picked them up in the toilet and asked her to help "return them to the owner." This video went viral on the Internet, with 5.51 million likes. On April 12, the Hangzhou police reported that the video "Thurman the cat, one cup" released by "Thurman the cat, one cup" "found the lost homework book of the elementary school student Qin Lang in Paris" was artificially planned and staged according to the script, and was suspected of spreading online rumors. The police have imposed administrative penalties on the internet celebrity blogger Xu, the director Xue and the company involved. Subsequently, the relevant accounts of "Thurman the cat, one cup" were banned on multiple platforms such as Douyin and Weibo, and its clothing brand also announced the closure of stores.

The video, which went viral online, received 5.51 million likes and was later confirmed to be fake. Screenshot of the Douyin video

In August 2022, "an innocent girl strayed into the depths of Daliang Mountain and met a handsome and simple country boy who invited her to his home..." Soon, the video of Zhao Linger and Qu Bu's "chance encounter" became popular on the Internet. Since then, the two began to frequently live broadcast and sell goods, starting a "beautiful story" that seemed to be full of positive energy to help farmers and start businesses. However, behind this story lies a gray industry chain of counterfeiting and selling fake goods by creating false personalities to incubate Internet celebrities and filming videos through plot compilation.

On September 20, 2023, Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan reported a live broadcast case of fake sales by an online celebrity team represented by Qu Bu and Zhao Linger. The report stated that the team sold some fake "Daliangshan agricultural specialties" products to more than 20 provinces across the country under the banner of "helping farmers" and "high-quality original ecology", with sales exceeding 10 million yuan. On December 28, 2023, the Zhaojue County Court of Liangshan Prefecture pronounced the first instance of the case. The legal representative of the company involved, Zhang, the online celebrity anchor Zhao (Zhao Linger), Ari (Qu Bu) and other 9 people were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 8 months to 3 years and 2 months.

All parties should not lack supervision

In the statement released on August 19, the "Zhenguan" public account emphasized that the article was contributed by the author. "Zhenguan" confirmed the relevant tenant information, WeChat chat records, transfer records, property unlocking videos, police reporting videos and other evidence. According to multiple media reports, the details of "starved to death", "ranked first in the civil service exam", "211 prestigious school" and so on in the article "A girl from another place died in my rented apartment" have been pointed out by relevant parties as untrue. Will the author of the article and the publishing platform bear legal responsibility for spreading false information? Upstream News reporters interviewed Fu Jian, a well-known criminal defense lawyer and director of Henan Zejin Law Firm, on this matter.

Fu Jian believes that if the articles published by self-media (platforms or accounts) contain false content and thus trigger public opinion, then the self-media should bear the corresponding legal responsibilities, including civil liability such as infringement of reputation rights and defamation, and in serious cases may even involve criminal liability. From this case, whether the self-media has reached the level of illegality and crime needs further investigation. However, due to the release of false information that triggers public opinion, the self-media has the obligation to explain, clarify or delete (the article) in a timely manner.

In its explanation of the situation, "Zhenguan" stressed that it had confirmed the authenticity of the content of the article in question. However, lawyer Fu Jian said that this could not be a reason for its exemption from liability: "Although 'Zhenguan' claimed to have reviewed the authenticity of the article, this cannot be a sufficient reason for its exemption from liability. The authenticity of the review needs to be verified through specific evidence. If there are improprieties in the review process that lead to public opinion, then 'Zhenguan' still needs to bear the corresponding responsibility."

In response to the frequent incidents of self-media platforms (accounts) fabricating scripts, making up stories, and writing "small essays" in recent years that have caused public opinion storms, lawyer Fu Jian believes that self-media platforms (accounts) should establish scientific and rigorous review processes and standards to ensure that the information released is true, accurate, and legal. In particular, for content that is obviously contrary to common sense, may cause major controversy, or is suspected of being false, reasonable review obligations should be fulfilled. For articles that have caused controversy and public opinion, timely responses should be given, and subsequent handling such as explanation, modification, and deletion should be carried out as needed.

China National Radio also published an article pointing out that the frequent "wolf coming" tricks by self-media not only consume the kindness and sympathy of the majority of netizens, but also hinder the real help seekers in the future. There are many stories of "wolf coming", and when the real "wolf" comes, the first thing people think of may not be to stand up, but to question the truth. This kind of behavior of hyping up without bottom line to obtain traffic is undoubtedly a malicious consumption of public trust and must be severely punished. Relevant network platforms must shoulder the main responsibility, establish a good review mechanism, and do a good job of self-examination and self-correction. Regulatory and law enforcement departments must also ensure that law enforcement must be strict and violations must be corrected, so that self-media fraud has no place to stand.

Upstream News reporter Zhao Yingji, Zhu Liang, intern Wang Zirui, some of the content is based on China National Radio, Red Star News, Jimu News, Benliu News, etc.