Chinese minister highlights top 10 'worrying trends' in Web community

New Delhi, December 6 (ANI): The Chinese minister of the State Council Information Office, Wang Chen, has revealed that the Internet is being misused to spread rumours by most of the users.

He said so while delivering a speech during the 8th Forum on Internet Media of China in Chongqing on Friday, through which he urged the country's online media to help foster a society of integrity and honesty.

Chen's speech unveiled 10 "worrying trends" in the Chinese online community.

While 'spreading rumours' topped the list, exaggeration of news came in second.

Dissemination of pornography or information on gambling found a mention in the third place, while online violence like invasion of privacy and harassment were fourth.

Wrapping up the top five was playing unhealthy online games, reports the China Daily.

Wang said that such trends were "posing a major challenge" to regulating the country's expanding online community.

He stressed the need for efforts to increase supervision of the Internet, and to enlist the help of Internet stakeholders, to keep objectionable elements out of cyberspace.

Qiu Lufeng, a professor from Nanjing University's law school, said that though offline and online activities were not very different, the anonymous nature of the Internet made it harder for online activities to be regulated.

"The online community is so large that users can hide their real identities, making it hard to trace behavior to a 'real' person. For example, if a person verbally attacks me online, it is troublesome for me to look for or even sue him as I don't know his real name," Qiu said.

Top 10 worrying trends in the Internet community are:

1. Spreading rumours

2. Exaggerating news reports

3. Disseminating pornography or information on gambling

4. Taking part in online violence like invasion of privacy or harassment

5. Operating online games that are harmful to health

6. Online fraud

7. Selling shoddy goods

8. Stealing personal financial information

9. Sending junk mail

10. Spreading viruses (ANI)