Internet has made it easy for people to cast votes for an event. But some people have been manipulating online votes with money or technology and thereby threatening the credibility of the results. Some people who win awards through online votes have established interest chains. Cheating or manipulating votes online is not only a business issue, but also related to morals and order, says an article in Beijing Times. Excerpts:

Although some awards may not fetch money for the winners, they can easily generate profits for people selling, making or delivering products or services. Also, some products that win awards by manipulating votes could carry tags saying "people's favorite" and confuse buyers.

Public support has the power to turn honors or awards into money. The more popular a product is the more profit it can bring.

That's why some people manipulate online votes to win awards.

Media reports say that many such scandals have been exposed.

Manipulation of online votes is more of political issue related to public opinion and participations.

Even in a program like "Happy Girls", the rules of voting were flouted, even though only the audience was voting.

The program was guilty of organized cheating and undermining overall fairness, too. In programs such as "Happy Girls", in which winners get public benefits, organizers are duty bound to ensure order to protect the validity of the awards by ensuring that voting is fair, because voting is a basic element of democracy.

It is possible to prevent cheating in online votes. As some media reports say, the online payment platforms for cheats could be blocked and they could be removed from search engines.

The problem is, do the network service providers and related government departments have the "passion" or "interest" to supervise?

(China Daily 11/22/2011 page9)