Commanding an online following of nearly 12 million on Weibo, Xue said that "My irresponsibility in spreading information online was a vent of negative mood, and was a neglect of the social mainstream," adding that "freedom of speech cannot override the law.". Of course, when freedom of speech is technically written into the law, as it is in the Chinese constitution, it's become increasingly clear as the Big V crackdown continues unabated that there's no such thing in practice.
Under new legislation, if a rumor, say something like "Xi Jin Ping smokes the big one" gets viewed 5000 times, or reposted 500 times a potential maximum sentence of three years in jail can be bestowed upon the guilty party. There's no word yet on what the punishment would be for anything, with, say 499 retweets, or 4999 visits.
Confessions made by arrested perps are a useful tool in reinforcing the idea that the Chinese police know what the hell they're doing. The recent parading on TV of detained foreign businessmen confessing to what Chinese businessmen get away with before they've had their coffee in the morning is a relatively new development. Along with the new laws regarding online behavior, legal experts have said that the confessions broadcast live to the nation make a mockery of the already pisspoor Chinese legal system.
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