Online rumormongers punished

Two people have been held in administrative detention and two others have been fined for making and distributing false information over the Internet, the Hangzhou-based Qianjiang Evening News has reported.

A 27-year-old woman surnamed Zhang from Suzhou in Jiangsu province, posted on micro-blogging website Sina Weibo, a comment urging people to stop visiting Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. She wrote that on March 9 an unidentified virus caused a man's death and put his wife and child in hospital after the family visited the popular tourist city.

Two others, surnamed Wu and Shi, and a vocational school student surnamed Yao, helped Zhang distribute the false news. The original micro blog was re-posted more than 20,000 times within a week. Wu, Shi and Yao sexed up the news, claiming Hangzhou limited the inflow and outflow of people even after the city’s Health Bureau refuted the rumor.

An investigation by Hangzhou's health authority found the story was totally fake.

Hangzhou police tracked down the four rumormongers on March 17 who said they had no idea that they were legally responsible for what they posted until the police found them.

Qianjiang Evening News said Wu and Zhang were held for 10 days and five days administrative detention respectively while Shi and Yao were fined for 500 yuan according to regulations on administrative penalties for public security.