Police in Gansu hold man they say spread fake news

Police in the Kongtong district of Pingliang, Gansu province, took action against a man suspected of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" by using modern technology to fabricate false information and spread it on the Internet.

The man, surnamed Hong, distributed fake information in April claiming that a train in Gansu had hit workers and killed nine people, the police said.

The information was generated by ChatGPT, a popular AI chatbot that has capabilities in different fields, including writing essays and translating articles.

According to the police, Hong acted in hope of getting money through high network traffic. He bought many accounts on online platforms and spread the fake news via those accounts, the police said.

The fake information has been widely spread by netizens, and the article has been viewed more than 15,000 times, the police said.

After a preliminary investigation, the accounts were found to belong to a WeMedia company in Shenzhen. The legal representative was Hong.

Hong was detained at his residence in Dongguan, Guangdong province, on Friday.