China says it has punished 197 people in its effort to identify citizens who spread 'unproven rumours' on the internet.
According to China's Xinhua News Agency reports, 165 online accounts have been closed by authorities as part of the crackdown.
Among those punished are those who circulated an inflated death toll in the country's recent Tianjin blasts and those who reported that a man had committed suicide as a result of last week's stock market crash.
Some other people were punished for spreading rumours about upcoming commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, which China marks with a military parade through Beijing on Thursday.
According to China's Public Security Ministry, spreading rumours across social media and the internet are punishable activities that need to be wiped out.
In September, 2013, China had threatened to implement tough measures against what it termed "online rumours", threatening up to three years in jail if such posts are widely reposted.
You can be charged with defamation, if online rumours you create are visited by 5,000 internet users or reposted more than 500 times according to a 2013 judicial interpretation issued by China's top court and prosecutor.
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