Dong Liangjie detained over water pollution rumor

Beijing police have detained a self-proclaimed environmental protectionist in a crackdown on online rumor mongering. In May last year, Dong Liangjie posted that drinking water across China had been polluted by a contraceptive substance. He claimed the Yangtze River Delta showed the highest levels.

The posting on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo, was forwarded nearly twenty thousand times, with more than thirty-five hundred comments attached. Dong got the information from a US-based academic database, and posted a link to the source article. Six days after, the author of the article clarified that Dong had distorted his research. Beijng police say Dong himself admitted that the link was to make the rumor credible, and the posting lacked scientific support.

Chinese-American investor Xue Biqun, or "Xue Manzi", who had a following of 12 million, forwarded the posting, with a comment of support. Xue himself was arrested for alleged group sex with prostitutes in late August.

Early this month, China unveiled new rules to create judicial boundaries for criminal online speech or conduct. Individuals will face defamation charges if the online rumors they create are viewed by at least 5,000 Internet users or re-tweeted five hundred or more times.