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author: zhang feng

columnist

visiting scholar at columbia university

hangzhou police confirmed that they have taken criminal restrictive measures against the internet celebrity "tietou" (dong moumou) and the case is under further investigation.

in the brief notice, the police also revealed key details: "after investigation, in may 2024, dong, xue, xu and others conspired to threaten to expose black material, demanded hundreds of grams of gold from a live-streaming anchor, and promised to provide protection after delivery. after many negotiations, they obtained a large amount of money transferred from the anchor to their designated account."

extorting hundreds of grams of gold means the amount involved is hundreds of thousands, which is considered "huge"; and conspiring with xue, xu and others is considered "more than three people", which means that tietou has really committed a big crime this time.

the police report seems to be related to an earlier online video about tietou: tietou and his accomplices went to a jewelry store and claimed that the gold they bought was not enough. however, after checking, the store found that there was something wrong with the scale he brought, so they chose to call the police, and tietou fled in panic.

in 2024, this "anti-counterfeiting hero" was constantly controversial. in a live broadcast, he claimed that he had previously visited prostitutes and spent 1,600 yuan. "now the statute of limitations has passed. if you want to hear the details, get 200,000 likes for me." some viewers were shocked by this and reported him to the municipal platform. since then, his video accounts on multiple platforms have stopped updating.

he also went to the yasukuni shrine in tokyo, urinated there, and took a video. this "patriotic behavior" also caused great controversy. when people were discussing whether this behavior was appropriate, he had already flown back to china and began to hype the incident.

obviously, in his view, both "prostitution" and "patriotism" are materials produced to gain traffic. he thinks he is safe because "prostitution is past the statute of limitations" and he tells this story to get more "likes"; and "peeing at the yasukuni shrine" will get a lot of attention and will not be banned by the platform.

behind the exaggerated behavior is a self-proclaimed accurate calculation. tietou is famous for "fighting fakes", but most of his actions are actually carried out under the banner of self-proclaimed political correctness. his most classic anti-fake action was "reporting hangzhou new oriental". at that time, various places were rectifying tutoring behavior, and many educational platforms were in turmoil. choosing new oriental for exposure not only makes it easy to gain traffic, but also takes advantage of some netizens' aversion to "capitalists" to create his own heroic persona.

such a "righteous" person was once very popular on the video platform, which may be the reason why the bloggers had to submit and pay protection fees to him.

according to netizens and media reports, tietou was sentenced in 2016 for "running a casino" and "illegal detention", which are real-world gang-related crimes. after being released from prison, he did not seem to repent, but instead optimized his "business skills" and began to stir up trouble online. the above behavior is already the style of the "internet gangster".

during a live broadcast, some fans questioned his past experiences. he responded that what he had done in the past was neither good nor bad, as he had "paid what he should pay" anyway. the implication was that there was no such thing as moral standards, and as long as a person was willing to take responsibility, he could do what he wanted - this was not only "realistic" but also "legitimate", and he would not "set a bottom line" for himself.

he created a persona for himself as a "fake-fighting hero." because "fake-fighting" often seems to be just, and there will be conflicts (suitable for video presentation); if you "fake" well-known companies, you can also cater to some people's imagination of "hatred of capitalists" and it is easier to get traffic.

his "internet success theory" comes partly from his previous experience in society and partly from his "insight" into the survival rules of online platforms. there is no doubt that he has mastered a certain "traffic code" and is proficient in using conflicts, frauds and incitement to "hate the rich". he also knows that in order to avoid being banned by the platform, he must occupy a high moral position.

this is understandable.why did he choose to go to the yasukuni shrine and record it when he began to receive a lot of reports on the internet? maybe this is what he understands as an "internet amulet". no matter what a person does, as long as he claims to be "patriotic", he can be forgiven.

chinese internet platforms, whether for information release or short videos, have strict content review and violation punishment mechanisms. but there are many "patriots" like "iron head", who speak eccentrically, spread false knowledge (for example, they claim that ancient greek and athenian civilizations are fake and western history is fabricated), promote violence (advocating "nuclear peace" with japan), and spread a lot of rumors. if a person makes a video claiming that "the four great inventions are fake", he will definitely be punished; but some people believe that socrates, plato, and the industrial revolution are all fictional and fabricated, but they can run rampant on the internet - because this is knowledge about the west, and it is rarely corrected if it does not comply with the principle of authenticity.

i would like to call itfor "pseudo-patriotism through traffic":using traffic as motivation, it disparages foreign countries without factual basis or moral bottom line, and panders to the audience's sense of national pride in an extreme way.

perhaps the platform thinks that this content is "harmless" - foreigners rarely see it, and foreign governments will not protest. however, such an online atmosphere will give people like "tietou" a lot of encouragement.

when they think that "as long as they are patriotic, it doesn't matter what they do", they will not be satisfied with just getting "traffic sharing" from the platform, but will speed up the monetization process and even cross the legal red line and commit real crimes.

from "anti-counterfeiting" to "extortion", there is actually a gap between "facts" and "laws".

the case of "tietou" should give internet users and platforms more room for reflection. "patriotism" should not be a shield for illegal behavior, nor should it be a "shelter for rumors." it should be a real and sincere emotion and should not be "used" by such people.

this article is an original article specially commissioned by the phoenix news commentary department and only represents the author's views.

editor: li ming