Social network websites 'pose a challenge'

China Daily, September 30, 2011

Using the pseudonym "Ruoxiaoan1", the man, surnamed Lin, posted 401 entries on his Sina Weibo account, starting from January, fabricating stories about working as a 22-year-old sex worker who "accidentally" lost her virginity, in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province.

Some of his entries were re-posted as many as 10,000 times.

However, Lin is actually employed as an editor. He craved fame and made up stories on his Weibo account. He was fined 500 yuan ($78) for disturbing public order and his micro blog account was permanently deleted.

Xie Yungeng said that young people are easily influenced by information on social networks, as it is very difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.

There are 212 million Chinese teenager Internet users, accounting for 46 percent of netizens, according to Xie.

"Fraud, porn and violence are easily found on social network websites. All of this can be seen by teenagers, which places them in potential danger," he said.

The professor suggested establishing a law protecting online rights and interests of teenagers.