China asks Internet celebs to assume social responsibility

China has asked Internet celebrities to take up greater social responsibilities and promote "moral virtues" online, days after a Chinese female singer was detained for posting an offensive message threatening to blow up government offices.
Internet celebrities, who have notable influence on public opinions in virtual society, should deliver more positive and constructive messages to Chinese netizens, said Lu Wei, director of the State Internet Information Office.
"The government expects them to uphold law and order as well as promote virtues and trust," Lu said in a statement yesterday after a meeting to discuss Internet related issues.
"They shall set an example of protecting the legal rights of citizens and denouncing any activities that harm the reputation and interests of other people," he was quoted as saying by state-run news agency Xinhua.

China's social networks have developed fast in recent years with more than 1.2 billion accounts opened on about 103 microblogging networks.
On Sina Weibo and t.Qq.Com, two leading social networks, the number of accounts, having the minimum 1 million followers, reached 3,300 and those having the minimum 10 million followers totaled about 200.

About a dozen these influential social network account owners attended the meeting, according to the statement.
They agreed that everyone should be responsible for what they say and do online as the Internet is also subject to laws and moral rules in the real world, the statement said.

Wu Hongfei a lead singer of rock band "Happy Avenue", was taken into custody on suspicion of "fabricating fake terrorism information", a crime that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Wu, a former journalist known for her candid criticism of the government, wrote on Sina Weibo (Chinese Twitter) on July 21 saying she wanted to blow up a residential committee in Beijing and the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, an agency responsible for urban housing management.
Significantly her comments were posted soon after Ji Zhongxing, the wheelchair-bound man who detonated an explosive device at Beijing airport last month to highlight his plight after being paralysed in police beating.