Spammers on the brink of illegality

THE PUBLIC SECURITY MINISTRY started cracking down on illegal online information services in May. Since then, more than 200 criminal suspects have been seized in over 40 cases nationwide. Procuratorate Daily commented on Tuesday:

All of the criminal suspects caught in the ministry's campaign were the network spammers, shuijun, which is a term for those who blackmail enterprises and government departments or officials by fabricating rumors or phony consumer comments.

In many cases, they are self-employed, although sometimes they are loosely organized through chat groups on social media.