Beijing
(AsiaNews) - State newspapers today reported a police operation against four
people who work at internet company Erma, in an attempt to "root out
[biased] rumors on the internet." The
operation was publicized in newspapers, online sites and even text messages sent
to employees of state-owned companies. According
to the police, Erma spread [unfounded] rumors about government failures and
corruption of its representatives just to gain financial benefits.
The
arrest of the Erma employees coincides with a nationwide campaign of arrests of
liberal figures - activists, human rights lawyers, dissidents - who continue to
accuse the government of corruption and demand political reform.
Concerned
about the widespread use of social networks, online discussions and damaging news,
the government is trying to put a damper on microbloggers by imposing seven
rules: obey the law; support the socialist system; keep national interests at
heart; protect the rights of the individual; maintain social order, respect
public morality; guarantee the accuracy of the facts.
But
the mission of the police is almost impossible: first, because people are
hungry for news that does not smack of state censorship. Moreover the wave of information
available on micro-blogging sites, with hundreds of millions of followers, has
become an attractive market that is almost impossible to dominate
One
of those arrested at Erma was Qin Zhihui, accused of "making trouble and
operating an illegal business." Previously
he was employed by a firm owned by billionaire internet Xue Biqun, of liberal
ideas and with 12 million followers on Weibo [the Chinese version of Twitter],
on which he wrote under the alias "Xue Manzi."
Xue
is a militant supporter of political reform within the Party, along with other
liberal billionaires such as Lee Kaifu and Wang Gongquan. Lee
has 51 million followers and - formerly manager for Google - offers advice on
information technology. But
he criticized a new government imposed search engine and last May his blog was blacked out for three days.
In May, blogger Murong Xuecun (4 million
followers) was also shut down, again for expressing differences with the official party line on social
issues.
The
microblog of real-estate king, tycoon Ren Zhiqiang, with 15 million followers,
was shutdown after he criticized government reaction during a flood emergency.
State
media defend the government actions and warn against the tendency to follow
"Western values", demanding that all social media defend the power of
the Communist Party. However,
given that they are considered
unreliable by internet users, even state media have resorted to blogs in an
attempt to guide public opinion on news and sensitive issues.