Who Is Behind Misinformation Campaign, China’s President Xi Jinping Is Under House Arrest?

#XIJINPING is Trending on Twitter, which is not the first time the social media has caused alarm by spreading misinformation

Xi Jinping is the current President of China and the general secretary of the Communist Party of China. Under his administration, Xi Jinping has made significant attainments in his political and economic policies. However, many speculate that President Xi is under house arrest, which can limit his power to make decisions. Is he under house arrest, or is the media sensationalizing a tweet found on Twitter?

Almost every month, there is fake news about Xi Jinping and speculations on whether he is still in good health or not. After he attended an Asian summit in March 2017, many claimed that he had become weaker and was under house arrest. However, none of these conspiracies have been verified. There have been many false reports over his presidency, including those that claimed he had a heart attack and died and one where he fell off his horse while hunting. As far as we know, Xi Jinping’s house arrest theory has not been strengthened by these false reports.

Based on what we know, President Xi Jinping is unlikely to be under house arrest. There appears to be very little evidence to suggest that the Communist Party of China is controlling him. Rather than contributing to the speculation surrounding his health and confinement, the media should focus on important issues facing China instead of creating a false narrative around a non-existent situation.

More so, it is very suspicious that the vast majority of trending links on Twitter and social media making unsubstantiated claims President Xi Jinping is under house arrest are coming out of India. The real question is why and who or what entities benefit financially from this misinformation.

Twitter is a hotbed mess for keyboard warriors, conspiracy theorists and misinformation specialists. It is as dangerous as a nuclear weapon. It does have its purpose but is terrible for relying on accurate information. All it takes is a person with a large following to start a hashtag with misinformation, and it begins to trend.