On WeChat.
“Is it true?”
“If we contribute to the One Dollar Art Sale, the Children Welfare Institute doesn’t even get one-tenth of it?”
“What the f*ck! Doesn’t that mean that we bought them for nothing? It’s like putting money into someone else’s pocket.”
”
“F*ck! I was just saying, how can a Children Welfare Institute be able to put their sale up on a big platform like Wechat? It’s definitely the work of someone else.”
“I’ve sent you all a screenshot. Go and take a look at it yourself. This was said by a student from an Art Institute. After you all have read it, forward it to other groups to inform the rest to be more vigilant, and to not get scammed by this.”
In the screenshot.
I am an expert painter: “I am a Chinese art student from an Art Institute, and I’m in my fourth year. This morning, I was spammed on WeChat by the One Dollar Art Sale. After learning that it was a charity event, I didn’t feel so bad, after all, helping others is a happy affair.”
“However, after looking at the paintings, I didn’t think it was so anymore. It was merely another activity for money laundering under the guise of charity. If you all look closely at the painting, even though you all may not be able to understand the unlying meaning of the painting, but as a fourth-year student in Chinese art, I realised that there were several mixes of professional brush strokes. These are all skills in Chinese art. Do you all think that children of such young age are able to have such control over their painting technique?”
“I’ve been through professional studies, yet I don’t even dare to say that I know all the different painting techniques. But right now, this bunch of kids know more than me. What kind of bullsh*t is this? Hence I’m speculating that there’s someone plotting all of this in the background, and at the same time, the possibility of imitation paintings is very high.”
This screenshot was spread in a blink of an eye.
To various large groups.
The netizens were starting to get suspicious. They didn’t know what the truth was.
Gradually, more people became vocal.
“Everyone, stop buying from them! They’re all fake!”
“This is a money laundering activity! Don’t give your money to them!”
“What the f*ck! I almost bought some.”
WeChat Operations Department.
Zhang Long was closely following this ‘One Dollar Art Sale’. He kept looking at the statistics.
One million.
Two million.
Three million.
In a short span of one or two hours, they had already raised a total of three million.
At this moment, Zhang Long frowned. He felt that there was something fishy about this figure. The increase in the figure had an abrupt stop. There wasn’t as sharp an increase as there previously was.
“What just happened?” Zhang Long felt hesitant. Could it be that somewhere along the way there was a mistake, and the netizens no longer bought the paintings?
Just at this moment, one of the workers hurriedly ran into the room.
“Chief Zhang! Bad news! There’s been some negative information reported online about the One Dollar Art Sale! They’re saying that it’s some kind of money laundering activity, and they’re appealing to others not to buy the paintings anymore. By the looks of things, the situation may be getting out of hand.”
“What?” Zhang Long was furious. “What exactly is the situation? Where’s the negative information coming from? Is it the unsettled public trying to discredit the campaign?”
“The origin of the information isn’t from the public, however, much of the public has already re-posted it. It has already caused a great deal of public dissatisfaction that would be hard to contain.”
Zhang Long’s face was red with rage. “D*mn it! All these despicable people. Go and block every one of them!”
The worker knew Zhang Long was angry, yet he was still concerned. “Chief Zhang, these official accounts are followed by millions, if you block them…”
Zhang Long waved his hand. “Block them! You need to know that this matter isn’t as easy as it seems. All these official accounts need to be responsible for their own words and actions. They have such a big pool of followers, yet they just spread the message without even getting the facts right. All this generates public opinions! Block them indefinitely, and you’re not allowed to unblock them!”
“And don’t you forget. It is not us who relies on them for site traffic, but rather, they rely on us for traffic on their sites.”
“Understood,” the worker said as he nodded his head. He proceeded to carry out his orders.
‘Marvels of the Realm’ was another popular official account and had a large follower base. Whenever there was news from him, there would be millions of readership.
The person-in-charge of the information company had also enlisted the help of official accounts to check for news. He had already detected the news point of the One Dollar Art Sale today, and at the moment the public opinions surfaced, he immediately re-posted it in order to catch up with the situation.
However, there were a few things that he did not understand. Which of these influencers was it that actually dared to speak to WeChat about this matter, promoting this activity. It was simply causing him to be envious.
Suddenly, he realised that there was something peculiar in the scene of the official accounts.
Were they hiding the violations?
At this moment, one of the workers hurried ran over. “Boss! Something bad has happened! Our official account has been blocked.”
“What?”
“It really has been blocked! We were just talking to employees at WeChat. They were telling us that we re-posted false information that has caused a negative backlash. They have also sent us a lawyer’s letter.” the worker said anxiously.
“What about our official account then?” He was most concerned about their official account.
The worker swallowed his saliva, “It has been blocked permanently.”
“What?”
…
Zhang Long was especially harsh this time around. As long as any official account dared to thread on this matter, it would be blocked. Many official account holders were so scared that they quickly deleted their content, and at the same time, they didn’t know what exactly was going on with WeChat and why were so harsh in their actions.
Those who were unable to delete their content in time faced the consequence. When the owners of those accounts found out about it, they cried like flowing taps.
Their accounts were their sweat and blood. It was their life. But right now, it was all gone.
Zhang Long, being the WeChat person-in-charge, naturally had the authority. At the same time, he only used one sentence to inform the higher-ups of the situation.
Block!
However, the public opinions had already spread widely, and it was getting even more severe. Once sent, it could not be taken back.
WeChat immediately released a public announcement, stating that regarding such charity events, WeChat did not take a single cent. At the same time, they were also not using any underhanded means. Everything they had said was the truth. However, many still discredited WeChat even though they used WeChat. As for the announcement, they didn’t even want to believe it.
In the Detention House.
When Lin Fan received a call from Zhang Long, he frowned. “How could there be a shady deal involved in such a matter?.”
Chief Zhang apologetically said, “Master Lin, this matter is getting very serious. I don’t know where the public opinions is originating from.”
Lin Fan was angry. “What do this people want? Is it that they find this matter to be a small one? In that case, let me just play with them.”
Chief Zhang didn’t know what Master Lin was going to do. But he knew that Master Lin was a top-notch hacker. He was even detained in the Detention House. However, even in the Detention House, Master Lin had incomparable freedom. It was hard to say what he was going to do.
After putting down the phone, Lin Fan began panting with rage. This was too infuriating! Just what did these people want? You can speculate all you like, but you cannot defame others!
This was just creating something out of nothing.
Sun Neng suspiciously asked, “Guru! What happened to you this time? Could it be that someone pissed you off? Tell me now! I will go and get them.”
Lin Fan didn’t respond. He went straight to find the message. “Go and find this b*stard. I want to see just who he is, and what evidence he has to make this kind of claim!”
“Ok, no problem.” Sun Neng said. “Everyone get down to business. We have all worked hard for a month, now is the time for us to get results! Find the b*stard that caused Guru to be so furious!”
At this moment, the experts in the Internet Safety Team immediately got into action, and their task was to find the b*stard who started the rumor on WeChat.