Wu Guangqiang

    jw368@163.com

    IT is no exaggeration to say that most Chinese people’s daily lives are governed by WeChat, a free, cross-platform and instant messaging application developed by Shenzhen-based Tencent.

    By the end of 2016, WeChat had 846 million active users. With this omnipotent app, WeChat users keep in constant touch with their family, friends, colleagues, clients, and like-minded people, sharing photos, music, movies, spiritual “chicken soup” and, alas, rumors.

    Like most other epoch-making inventions, WeChat is a double-edged sword — while it provides us with all conceivable convenience, it is used by rumormongers to spread rumors, many of which have caused damage to society as well as to the direct victims.

    Some factors make it easier to spread and more difficult to curb rumors on social platforms, including: the vast user base, the instant availability of information in words, sound and motion, the closer ties among the users, and most importantly, the relatively weak regulations.

    Rumors come in various forms, but videos are particularly deceptive, since they suggest to the viewers that “seeing is believing.”

    One video that went viral recently on WeChat claimed that some brands of edible purple laver, a variety of seaweed, were actually made from plastic. In the video, a man opened a pack of purple laver, tore a piece off, dipped it in water to soak it, and then stretched it. The taut piece then looked like plastic, transparent and rigid. “The so-called purple laver is made from plastic,” declared the man.

    Many viewers accepted it as true and it’s understandable given the fact that Chinese consumers have become panic-stricken because of rampant counterfeiting. They believe any “whistleblowing” stories. But their gullibility has been taken advantage of by those with ulterior motives.

    According to media, some purple laver manufacturers in Fujian Province, a chief producer of the product, received a number of blackmail phone calls demanding a hefty ransom, and the callers threatened to continue to spread the video if their demands were not met.

    The widely circulated video has devastated the industry in Fujian and caused millions of yuan in losses, according to the authorities.

    Police have detained two suspects for allegedly spreading the rumor.

    Another viral video shows how “plastic rice” is made. A shirtless young man is shown working in a dimly lit room, throwing waste plastic into a blender, and after some abrupt scene changes, out comes the finished product, something with a close resemblance to rice. The voice-over claims it is fake rice. Authorities later said that the video itself was true, showing how plastic pellets were made, but it was used by rumormongers to fake a story.

    Anyone with common sense knows that a few montages prove nothing. To say nothing of the impracticality of selling plastic rice.

    Rumormongers have different reasons to produce and spread misinformation. Some, especially those with a commercial purpose, do it as “Click Bait,” but some simply for the attention. A retired woman in Chengdu was detained for spreading the rumor of a collapsed bridge in Zhangjiajie, a famous tourist destination in Hunan Province. She posted the video in several WeChat groups, asserting that the tragedy with heavy casualties occurred in Zhangjiajie, but in fact it happened in Vietnam.

    Others, like the purple laver one, were meant to do harm to the innocent.

    The slim chances of being caught and punished and audience’s dupability plus the affinity of users make WeChat inundated with misinformation. According to WeChat’s security team, on average, they receive 30,000 reports on rumors and block 2.1 million suspicious posts daily.

    Rumors can be very detrimental to social stability and economic order when they cause panic. Therefore, effective measures must be taken to address the issue. It is imperative to press forward with legislation to tighten regulation of social media, especially, the “we media.”

    The best antidote to rumors is the credibility of official media based on principles of openness and transparency as well as the ability of governments at various levels to respond to public concerns and solve problems.

    Rumor-mongering must be criminalized regardless of the rumormonger’s motive. Only when no one dares to take chances to make up stories and few believe fake stories, can rumors be kept in check.

    In addition, it’s not hard for the audience to verify the authenticity of information; they need nothing but common sense.

    (The author is an English tutor and freelance writer.)