Micro-blogger pleads guilty to spreading false rumors

Yang Xiuyu?stands trial in the Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court Thursday. [Photo/Xinhua]

A former Chinese micro-blogger pleaded guilty on Thursday to spreading rumors to attract followers and accepting payment to help others delete posts.

Yang Xiuyu, founder of Erma Co with the online persona Lier Chaisi, was accused of illegal business operations after he received 531,200 yuan ($86,324) for publishing false information and helping people remove posts on the Internet, and stood trial in the Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court.

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Yang, 41, from Jilin province, was charged with running the illegal operation from May 2012 to 2013, the court said.

Lu Mei, one of Yang's employees responsible for the media department, also stood trial for the same charges.

Lu, 31, from Hunan province, allegedly asked for about 220,200 yuan after she deleted online posts for others, the court said.

The prosecutors formally arrested the two suspects in September 2013, saying they had disturbed market order.

The trial, open to the public via the court's official micro blog on Sina Weibo, Chinese largest Twitter-like platform, is still ongoing.

In April, the court sentenced Qin Zhihui, better known by his online alias, Qin Huohuo, to three years in prison for defamation and disturbing public order.

Qin, a 30-year-old native from Hunan province, was the first person to be sentenced for spreading false rumors on the Internet to damage the reputation of celebrities.