Users of social-networking app WeChat on Tuesday found their feeds full of blurred pictures, many accompanied by flirty captions. [Photo/IC]

CHINESE NETIZENS recently became inflamed over the behavior of three undergraduates at Henan University of Technology in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan province, when one of them posted the chat history of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend online. Soon the personal information of the three students had been exposed online.

Originally it was just the emotional entanglements of the three people concerned, and that is how it should have remained. But when the student who was dumped by the woman posted the online chat history of the woman and her new boyfriend without their permission, the nature of the incident changed, as his action not only violated their privacy, it provoked an online witch hunt.

While netizens' hunting down of officials has played a role in the anti-corruption fight, the exposure of personal information and the violation of people's privacy is an unwelcome practice.

Only law enforcement officers can investigate what happened in this incident and decide if a crime has been committed.

There is no justification for online "lynch mobs", and the behavior of angry netizens in such instances often violates people's privacy, which should be better protected by the law.