Paris Olympics: China cracks down on ‘fan culture’, arresting woman for social media posts
- The woman was detained for ‘maliciously fabricating information and blatantly slandered others’ after the table tennis women’s singles final
Authorities in Beijing have detained a 29-year-old woman for allegedly posting slanderous comments about athletes and coaches on social media.
The statement released by the Public Security Bureau of Beijing’s Daxing district did not confirm which athletes and coaches had been targeted. As it stood, police confirmed that the case remained under investigation.
He, the arrested individual whose first name has not been revealed, was accused of “maliciously fabricating information and blatantly slandered others”, soon after the Olympic table tennis women’s singles final, according to the Beijing police.
During the gold medal match between China’s Sun Yingsha and Chen Meng, Sun was met with roaring applause from the crowd in South Paris Arena, while Chen encountered sporadic booing and became a target of online harassment.
Chinese social media platforms, particularly Weibo, were inundated with hostile comments from Sun’s fans aimed at gold medallist Chen.
Posts accused Chen of lacking a sense of justice and included derogatory images of fans appearing to insult her. In response, Weibo removed more than 12,000 posts and banned more than 300 accounts, urging users to focus on the athletes’ performances and to comment rationally.
