If WeChat group forwards rumors, it shall be detained for less than five days or fined less than 500 yuan; If the circumstances are serious, they shall be detained for not less than five days but not more than ten days, and may also be fined not more than 500 yuan. A minor rumor is not a crime, but an illegal act. If the circumstances are serious, according to the different types of rumors, it can constitute the crime of libel, false accusation, stirring up trouble, commodity reputation, fabricating and spreading false information about securities and futures trading, and fabricating and spreading false terrorist information. Wechat is also a public place on the Internet. Although the target is a specific group of people, it is illegal to spread unverified rumors and false information in public places. Subjectively, it can be judged that the news is a rumor or false information, and whether it is original or forwarded, it needs to bear corresponding legal responsibilities.
The punishment standard for spreading rumors on the Internet depends on the seriousness of the facts involved. According to Article 291 of the Criminal Law, whoever fabricates false danger, epidemic situation, disaster and early warning information and spreads it on information networks or other media, or knowingly spreads it on information networks or other media, thus seriously disrupting social order, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance; If serious consequences are caused, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years. Subjectively, this crime must be intentional. The actor knows that he is spreading false facts that can damage the reputation of others, knows that his actions will lead to harmful results that will damage the reputation of others, and hopes that such results will happen. The actor's purpose is to discredit others. If the actor misunderstands false facts as true facts and spreads them, or spreads some false facts for the purpose of damaging the reputation of others, it does not constitute libel.
legal ground
Article 42 of the Law on Public Security Administration Punishment commits one of the following acts, and shall be detained for less than five days or fined less than five hundred yuan; If the circumstances are serious, they shall be detained for more than five days and less than ten days, and may be fined up to five hundred yuan:
(1) writing threatening letters or threatening the personal safety of others by other means;
(2) publicly insulting others or fabricating facts to slander others;
(3) fabricating facts, falsely accusing and framing others, and attempting to subject others to criminal investigation or public security administration punishment;
(4) Threatening, insulting, beating or retaliating against witnesses and their close relatives;
(5) sending obscene, insulting, intimidating or other information for many times to interfere with the normal life of others;
(six) voyeurism, sneak shots, eavesdropping, spreading the privacy of others.