Celebrity bloggers - confession and contrition

BEIJING - Beleaguered online celebrity Xue Charles Bi-Chuen, already awash in a sea of troubles, may soon have a few more.

On Saturday Beijing police detained an environmentalist accused of fabricating online rumors, who allegedly confessed to working with Xue in manipulating online opinion.

Dong Liangjie claims that he posted a large amount unverified news on environmental pollution at weibo.com, a Chinese twitter clone, to incite public panic and promote his company's water filters.

Xue supposedly helped him amass followers and online influence by forwarding his posts and helping him plan future sensationalist topics, Dong said from his detention center in Beijing.

Xue, a Chinese-American venture capitalist, was detained last month on charges of having had group sex with prostitutes. As a star blogger, with legions of followers on Weibo, Xue was seen as an online crusader for justice and his arrest astounded Chinese netizens.

Dong is a very different character, a Chinese national who studied in the United States.

The police said the investigation into Dong's and Xue's suspected crimes continues.

According to a judicial interpretation effective since September, a crime occurs if online falsehoods are are viewed by more than 5,000 Internet users or retweeted more than 500 times.

The Chinese government on Saturday denied that the recent crackdown on online rumormongers is meant to rein in public opinion, insisting that the crackdown will protect the legal right to freedom of speech.

Panic marketing online

When Dong returned to China in 2008, he developed a water filter and formed a company to market the product. At first Dong's filter attracted little attention or investment. He turned to Weibo in 2011, where he found a free, influential platform for advertising his filter.

He opened an Weibo account and called himself an "environment protection expert," posting topics and comments on environment pollution. At that time, a nuclear disaster in Japan had whipped up a frenzy of Chinese fears about the environment.

Dong's followers soon leapt to hundreds of thousands, but still far fewer than he thought he deserved, he says.

He soon began to schmoozing with the "big Vs" and their millions of followers, including Xue Manzi, the Weibo name of Xue. "V" is a Weibo tag for users verified as genuine.

Dong visited Xue at his Beijing home in early 2012. "We had a nice chat, like old friends," said Xue. "He asked me to invest in his company, but I refused as I thought his company too small."

But Xue said he would like to "cooperate" with Dong and promised to retweet Dong's posts to help Dong and his product. Dong's posts recommended by Xue and other big Vs are indeed, more widely read. Dong's posts were often garbled or based on arguments without definite answers.

In one post, he said China's tap water contains contraceptive drugs and such drugs are widely used in food, animal feeds and fisheries. He ended the post by saying that, "general water cleaners are unable to filter the drugs," implying that only his water filter has such abilities.

After he released the post, Xue immediately retweeted it, and it was then forwarded several thousands times in a few hours. The media also reported the case based on what Dong had written. As a result, citizens rushed to buy various water filters, with some even choosing to drink bottled water and never use tap water again.

Dong said his post was based on extracts from academic theses, however, the first author of the work said Dong had totally distorted his conclusions, and Beijing Waterworks Group confirmed that such drugs have never been detected in tap water.

Though Dong and Xue deleted the post after it was shown to be unfounded, their acts have had serious consequences for social order, according to the police.

To kick up more dust, Dong churned out rumor after rumor - "excessive lead in pork in Nanking", "high mercury levels in Zhoushan from tuna and hairtail" - this second post having dire consequences for the fishery industry in Zhoushan.

Xue said that he was very careful when retweeting Dong's posts in the beginning. "I only wrote or reposted things within my professional field. I would not comment on news about which I did not have a knowledge of and I would always investigate the sources of news before retweeting," Xue told reporters in an earlier interview

Gradually Xue became greedy, careless, lazy and unscrupulous, eager to forward almost anything Dong wrote. "Cause on one hand it saved time and on the other I thought I would not be held responsible as I was not the original poster," said Xue.

The talented, if somewhat overhyped, capitalist taught Dong to write exaggerated and eye-catching headlines. "For example, if the original read 'fish bone may cause cerebral injury', I would write 'eating fish makes you an idiot,'" Dong said.

"Nobody reads it if the title does not grab your attention," Xue explained.

In January, 2013, Xue induced a Shanghai company to invest 2 million yuan (325,000 U.S. dollars) in Dong's product and himself became a shareholder in Dong's company. Today Dong's product has estimated annual sales in the region of 1.2 million yuan and his followers have soared to over 300,000.

Confession and apology

Dong said his act of fabricating information for personal benefit caused panic, harmed others and ultimately himself.

"I sincerely apologize to the public. I know it's too late but I hope it can make some recompense for the bad effect," said Dong, eyes downcast.

"Many things could have been avoided, such as the 'mercury case', it affected the economy and people's lives in Zhoushan. It might lead to insecurity and distrust of the government...I apologize to the fishermen in Zhoushan," he said.

Xue also repeatedly said "everyone should stick to his/her bottom line."

"As an influential online voice, I irresponsibly retweeted posts without verifying them, and that is totally wrong," Xue said.

Referring to China's latest move to criminalize online rumors spreading,Xue said "freedom of speech cannot override the law". His sober demeanor was very different from the arrogance of a month ago when he was taken into detention.

Xue warned other big Vs to stay alert and remember their social responsibility.

"If I have an opportunity to use Weibo again, I will observe strict  professional ethics, and offer genuine, comprehensive and objective information to the public," said Dong, who was shackled and in detention uniform.

"Freedom and dignity is more important than vanity and wealth," Dong said.