A network anchor responded by lighting a cigarette with "RMB" in the live broadcast: counterfeit money.
Video screenshot
Recently, a video of two men lighting cigarettes with a denomination of "RMB" of 100 yuan spread on the Internet, which triggered a heated discussion among netizens.
On July 22, Chen Mou, a man who lit a cigarette in the video, told The Paper that the "RMB" he lit was fake money. At first, he only posted the video on WeChat group, but it was threatened after it was uploaded to the network by a willing heart. The man said that he had been reported to the police and has been criticized and educated by the school.
On the 22nd, the police on duty at Xingang Road Police Station in Guangzhou told The Paper that the man reported the police more than a month ago and needed to contact the police on duty that day.
At present, the school where the man is located has no response to this matter.
According to a 14-second video posted online, a young man with glasses lit a cigarette in his mouth with a 100-yuan bill, and then the man handed the burning bill to another man wearing a hat next to him to light it. At the end of the picture, the man with glasses is smoking and smiling at the camera.
Some netizens pointed out that the man who first lit the RMB in the video was an anchor named "Abstract with Basket" in bilibili. The Paper search found that the anchor had accounts in Sina, Weibo and Tik Tok at the same time, and initially became popular on the Internet as a security guard.
On July 22nd, Chen Mou told The Paper that the online video was true, and it was recorded in 2017. The 100 yuan used to light a cigarette in the video was fake money, saying that "it was fun at that time, so it was like this".
Chen Mou said that as a student, he usually works as a security guard during the winter and summer vacations. When recording the video, I was a freshman at school. After the video was uploaded to the Internet, I didn’t expect to be threatened by netizens. He said that the behavior of netizens had a certain impact on his personal life, so he reported the case at the Xingang Road Police Station in Guangzhou on June 5, 2019.
Chen Mou introduced that he is a native of Shanxi and studied in Guangzhou. The school asked him to delete his video for his own protection. After the incident, he has been criticized and educated by the school.
The Paper called the school, but the deadline for publication didn’t get a response.
On July 22nd, lawyer Zhang Xinnian, the vice chairman of Beijing Social Organization Legal Mediation Center, told The Paper that according to Articles 27 and 43 of the Regulations on the Administration of RMB, the public security organ should give a warning and impose a fine of less than 10,000 yuan for the intentional destruction of RMB. However, lawyer Zhang Xinnian pointed out that the scope of application of this provision is limited to the currency issued by the People’s Bank of China according to law (that is, real currency). If the man’s burning in the video is indeed "counterfeit money", it is not included in this restriction.
Zhang Xinnian said that if the burnt RMB is real money or the RMB is counterfeit money, but the man involved conceals the truth and falsely claims that it is real money, the behavior of the man involved in posting the video on the Internet to "show off" and make it widely spread can be regarded as a contempt and provocation against the "RMB" or a suspected violation of public security. If it is investigated by the relevant departments, it can be given a warning, a fine or administrative detention according to the provisions of the Law on Public Security Administration Punishment. On the other hand, if the man involved has informed that it is counterfeit money before lighting the cigarette, it is still controversial whether the act of releasing the video of "counterfeit money lighting the cigarette" is suspected of violating the law and order.
In addition, due to the limitations of the video content, it is still impossible to judge whether the smoking man is in a "no-smoking area". If the man involved smokes in a "no-smoking area" where smoking is restricted by the local government, he should be punished according to the relevant tobacco control regulations of the local government.