Social media accounts shut over Tianjin blast rumours

Over 360 social media accounts were shut down over spreading rumours of the fatal warehouse explosions China's Tianjin city which claimed 85 lives, the media reported on Saturday.

Two blasts at a warehouse in north China's Tianjin City on Wednesday night have killed 85 people and 721 others were hospitalised, including 25 critically injured and 33 in serious condition, Xinhua news agency reported.

Following the blast, certain accounts on microblogging site Sina Weibo and the instant messaging service WeChat began posting rumours like "toxic gas blown to Beijing", "malls and markets looted", and "no one survived within one km of the blast site", the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said on Friday.

 

In addition, the CAC said, some accounts masquerading as relatives of the victims, attempted to swindle money through fraudulent charity fund raising.

Some "big Vs", or star bloggers, had also posted "irresponsible" comments about the blast.

Few star bloggers had caused their followers to panic by comparing the blast to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during the Second World War.