Tougher action urged against online bullying

Crude language and rumors used to target victims

On the evening of Oct 28, Liu Hanbo, 46, a history teacher in Xinzheng city, Henan province, died after teaching a class online. Five days later, a post claiming that she had been the victim of online bullying during the class triggered widespread public attention.

The post, along with a video clip of the online session, was published by Liu's daughter on Sina Weibo, in which she said that internet users entered the online room and disturbed the class by playing noisy music and being rude while her mother livestreamed the lesson.

"I was informed after two days of my mom's death from a heart attack. She died alone at home, because my dad, younger sister and I were busy with studies and work outside the city," the daughter said in the post.

She also suggested more people take notice of online bullying, and asked for increased supervision from Dingding, Alibaba's remote office system — which her mother used — and other livestreaming platforms.

The post has been shared more than 200,000 times and the video clip viewed over 4.33 million times.

The authorities in Xinzheng have attached great importance to the incident. On Nov 2, the local education bureau expressed sadness about Liu's death, while police in the city confirmed that it was not a criminal case.

Responding to the claim made by Liu's daughter, the education bureau said the public security department has filed a case for investigation, while Dingding said it is working with police to probe the incident.

Even if it is found that online bullying was not a contributing factor to the death, the education bureau said, "The internet is not a lawless place, and relevant government agencies should harshly crack down on such behavior."

Frequent cases

In recent years, there have been frequent clashes in cyberspace, with many people using crude language or rumors to attack others on short-video, microblogging or livestreaming platforms due to a difference of opinion, or to vent their emotions. Such attacks have triggered anxiety among users.

With countless employees and students working and studying from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these incidents are now occurring during online classes and meetings.

The principal of a primary school in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, who declined to be named, said, "I once attended an educational seminar via video link, and noticed a few outsiders posting rude text messages to interfere with the session, but they were quickly removed from the online room by the organizer."

According to legal experts, posting vulgar videos or pictures, abusing or slandering teachers or students, and disturbing order in class by controlling computer screens constitute online bullying.

China Daily searched "online bullying" on Sina Weibo, finding more than 1,700 examples of such behavior — one of the victims being a female student who was targeted for picking at her hair.

Zheng Linghua, studying at a university in Zhejiang, was frequently insulted and slandered by netizens because she posted a photograph of herself showing her postgraduate enrollment certificate to her grandfather. The post has garnered 270 million views.

The student was dismayed that many internet users targeted her for picking at her hair in the photo, and said that she looked like a nightclub worker, a seductress, or even a monster. Some netizens even forwarded the photo, triggering rumors that it showed an elderly man married to a young woman.

Initially angered by these incidents, Zheng washed the pink dye from her hair, but after collecting hundreds of such comments, she considered taking legal action against the alleged attackers, according to a China Youth Daily report in July.