When targeted by online abuse, activate protections and save evidence before choosing a legal route

Initial platform protections and reporting are free and may take 10–20 minutes. An injunction or private prosecution requires court procedures and may involve a lawyer. The difficult part is saving evidence while upset instead of arguing back.

Paragraph 15 of the 2023 joint guidance allows a personality-rights injunction under Civil Code Article 997 where evidence shows an unlawful infringement is occurring or imminent and delay would cause irreparable harm. The order requires the conduct to stop before the full dispute is resolved. Paragraph 11 provides for police assistance when a private-prosecution victim genuinely cannot obtain evidence. Police should identify the responsible person and collect evidence of dissemination and effects, with necessary technical support from the platform. If the resulting evidence meets acceptance requirements, the court should open the private-prosecution case; if evidence cannot be collected, police must explain in writing. Paragraph 12 identifies five types of serious harm to social order that can support public prosecution: severe consequences such as a victim’s or close relative’s mental breakdown or suicide with grave social impact; indiscriminate targeting of ordinary members of the public with wide dissemination and large volumes of malicious comments and grave impact; insults or defamation of multiple people or repeated dissemination with grave impact; organizing or directing mass dissemination across platforms with grave impact; and other qualifying circumstances. Paragraph 4 provides that serious organized doxxing involving unlawful collection and public dissemination of personal information can constitute a personal-information offense. The 2024 online-abuse governance rules require platforms to offer blocking of unknown or specified users, audience restrictions, disabling reposts or comments, and private-message limits to friends or no messages. Article 25 requires quick evidence-capture tools, Article 26 a prominent rapid-reporting channel, and Article 15 reporting suspected crimes to police.

Start with the fastest, least costly route: preserve and report through the platform. Court proceedings generally take more time and money, so decide separately whether to pursue them. You bear the effort of each route. An injunction requires an application, and a private prosecution requires you to file and provide evidence. Public prosecution requires circumstances meeting the legal threshold, including the categories above; otherwise the ordinary private-complaint route may apply. Do not respond with abuse and expose yourself to the same liabilities, and do not delete your account’s relevant contents before preserving them. If overwhelmed, contact 12356. For removal of personal information, see chapter 14, entry 8. If you were filmed and posted online while helping a stranger, see whether to stop when a stranger is in trouble.

Supreme People’s Court, Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and Ministry of Public Security (2023). Guidance on unlawful and criminal online abuse, document 2023 No. 14, paragraphs 4, 11, 12, and 15. https://www.court.gov.cn/zixun/xiangqing/412992.html; National People’s Congress (2020). Civil Code, Article 997. https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/fl/202006/t20200602_463888.shtml; Cyberspace Administration of China and three other departments (2024). Provisions on governance of online-abuse information, Articles 15, 23, 25, and 26, effective 1 August 2024. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/2024/issue_11526/202408/content_6969181.html.