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Police in northern China's Shandong province said they were
investigating the suspect, identified by the surname Shi and one
of the characters in his first name, who called himself the "Sh
Runlong Jocker" on social media and claimed to be a Chinese New
Zealander from Hong Kong.
Shi made false claims about his identity, including that he was
a board member of the Japanese Red Cross Society and a director
at a fictional Shandong Internet Economic Research Centre. He
also circulated fake images of himself with U.S. President
Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and German
Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Shi is also accused of being responsible for a fake state media
article: the official Xinhua news agency said it had discovered
a fake article claiming to be from Xinhua that portrayed Shi as
a poverty alleviation hero.
"Shi had paid people to write the fake articles and Photoshop
fake pictures and posted online...We will punish those who
spread rumors online with an adverse impact on the society," the
Public Security Bureau in Jinan, capital of Shandong province,
said on its official Weibo account.
Shi went viral on Chinese social media websites after his
crafted online identify was exposed. Shi's Twitter-like Weibo
account, which used to have more than 10,000 followers, could
not be found on Wednesday when checked by Reuters.
"The young generation nowadays have too much vanity," one Weibo
user said. "They've been spoiled by their families."
(Reporting by Lusha Zhang and Se Young Lee; Editing by Nick
Macfie)
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