Social media info can be criminal evidence

A user logs on to the WeChat service on a smartphone. [Photo/Xinhua]

Information posted by users on social media can be used as evidence if the contents are involved in related criminal cases, according to a recent regulation issued by China's law enforcement authorities.

The rule, co-formulated by the Supreme People's Court, Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security, is aimed at regulating the collecting and reviewing of digital data in criminal cases and will come into force on October 1.

Law enforcement authorities have the right to collect and retrieve digital data during investigations, the rule says.

The data includes information posted on Weibo, Wechat, network disk and other online platforms, as well as e-mails and cell phone messages.

However, the collecting and retrieving process must be kept secret to prevent national and business secrets or personal information being leaked, it says.

The related information could also be temporarily frozen if it is too large to be collected or has the danger of being tampered with or lost.

Law enforcement agencies have stepped up their crackdown on online blackmail, fraud and rumors.

China has experienced an increase in online fraud, particularly in the field of P2P lending, over the past year, a report published by online security company Liewang shows. There have been 24,886 reports of online fraud, up 7.96 percent from last year.

A 19-year-old would-be freshman in Guangdong province was defrauded of 9,800 ($1,470) yuan in a telephone scam in July, while a freshman-to-be and a college student, both in Shandong province, died of heart attacks after they were defrauded of their money in August.

Police later detained 28 suspects involved in the three telecom fraud cases.

Also, according to the criminal law, if someone is found guilty of spreading rumors and destabilizing the social order, he or she can face imprisonment of three to seven years. But in a minor case, the rumormonger would only need to apologize and pay a fine of up to 500 yuan.

On September 6, police detained seven real estate agents for spreading rumors that Shanghai were set to change property market rules, which would treat couples divorced within one year as part of one family, meaning they would have to pay a higher down payment to buy a second house.