One is the judicial interpretation of the criteria for convicting and sentencing offenders in cases of online libel, which was jointly issued by the SPC and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Sept 6, 2013. It describes the following four scenarios as "serious", which is the precondition constituting a libel breach: a single defamatory information on the Internet being clicked/browsed more than 5,000 times or forwarded over 500 times; action causing significant damage, such as mental illness, self-manipulation or suicide, to the victims or their families; the suspect having received administrative punishment for libel in the past two years; and other serious circumstances.

Besides, seven situations are deemed as "having seriously harmed the social order and national interest", which include defamatory information causing mass disturbances, public disorder, ethnic or religious conflicts, damaging the national image, and/or producing bad global implications.

Another judicial interpretation issued by the top court on Sept 18, 2013, said that six types of situations could be viewed as having seriously disrupted social order: actions creating disorder at airports, railways stations, ports, shopping malls, cinemas, sports centers or other crowded areas, or resulting in emergency evacuation measures; disrupting normal operation of large transport vehicles such as aircraft, trains and ferries; disrupting the functioning of schools, hospitals, mines, administrative agencies; seriously disrupting village or city life; forcing police, fire fighting departments, and hygiene and quarantine agencies to adopt emergency measures; and other serious circumstances.

The SPC may adopt a similar approach while preparing the new judicial interpretation. But since analogy is forbidden in criminal law, the principle of legality or nulla poena sine legs (no penalty without a law) should apply, which will further ease concerns of netizens.

But as responsible citizens, people should be cautious not to spread information that is doubtful.

The author is a fellow with the research office of Shunyi district people's court in Beijing.