Six-month account suspension for bogus Weibo post

A Weibo user who claimed he was blackmailed by a Meituan deliveryman received a six-month account-silence punishment for deliberately fabricating and spreading disinformation, according to the city's official rumor-debunking platform.

The man, who ordered an errand service from Meituan on May 13 to send documents along with his passport to a designated courier service station by 8pm, posted on his Weibo account at around 10pm that the deliveryman, who failed to deliver the items on time as required, hinted via WeChat that he wanted extra money or the documents would be discarded or destroyed.

Investigations conducted the next day by Meituan and the local police found what the post claimed was completely false.

In fact, the Meituan deliveryman surnamed Han had realized he may not be able to deliver the documents on time due to having too many orders and a low battery on his electric bicycle. He reached an agreement with the man to return the items and receive a payment of 28 yuan (US$4.10) – the original cost of the order.

The man received the items along with a banana from the deliveryman later that day but posted the fallacious story anyway.

On May 14, the man posted again without acknowledging his misdeeds despite investigators' conclusion. He finally apologized on the 15th and was punished by Weibo the next day.