China recently sent out an “Announcement on the Special Control of Rumors Related to New Coronavirus Pneumonia.”
The announcement reminds citizens that it is illegal to spread false information or induce panic online. And the government considers anything about the Coronavirus that doesn’t come directly from government sources “false information”.
Anyone who violates this ban and shares what the government considers rumors about the outbreak could face up to seven years in prison.
China has also made clear that the government considers criticizing their response to the Coronavirus outbreak a violation of the law.
Already China arrested dozens of social media users for spreading “false information without verification.”
This is all made even more absurd by China’s terrible response to the outbreak. Instead of tackling the issue head-on, they tried to hide it for over a month. Hundreds of people have now died, and more than 20,000 have been infected.
Yet China’s government is still more concerned about keeping information from spreading rather than keeping the disease from spreading.
Source (scroll down to see the part on China, as it's an article on ZH that covers a few different subjects.)
For each part there is a link which takes you to the original story. I was taken to a Chinese news site. I'm thankful for Google translate
WeChat Security Center: Limited or permanent ban on accounts that spread rumors of the epidemic
2020-01-26 12:21
Source: CCTV News Client
On January 25, the WeChat Security Center issued the "Announcement on the Special Control of Rumors Related to New Coronavirus Pneumonia". The "Announcement" stated that the new type of coronavirus pneumonia is continuing to spread throughout the country, causing widespread concern in the society. At the same time, all kinds of "rumored" and "heared" rumors and information continue to stimulate everyone's panic. The "Criminal Law Amendment (9)" clearly stipulates: "The fabrication of false dangers, epidemics, disasters, and police information is spread on information networks or other media, or it is known that such false information is intentionally spread on information networks or other media. Those who seriously disrupt the social order shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment, detention or control of less than 3 years; if they cause serious consequences, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of 3 to 7 years. "
WeChat will resolutely and continuously crack down on rumor-like information. At present, professional third-party rumor removal agencies have been introduced to rumor rumors on the platform; and in accordance with relevant national laws and regulations and the Tencent WeChat Software License and Service Agreement, WeChat Personal Account Use Specifications, and other relevant agreement specifications, the content of violations of information Deletion processing, and stepped punishment of violating accounts according to the degree of violation: including, but not limited to, limiting or permanently blocking accounts or account functions.
WeChat will set up a special group to clean up rumors related to "new coronavirus pneumonia" and continue to strengthen the rectification. Tencent's authenticity verification platform will also conduct real-time rumors about new coronavirus pneumonia; users are also welcome to complain about related rumors. WeChat Safety Center reminds: Be extra calm and rational before the epidemic situation. Users should learn about the epidemic information from disease control or medical institutions and authoritative news media. The relevant epidemic prevention information is subject to the official website of the provincial and municipal health and health committees. Do not listen to rumors and increase Unnecessary psychological burden, do not believe rumors, do not spread rumors, improve alertness and recognition. (Reporter of CCTV, Sun Jiwei of CCTV)