Chinese authorities have penalized multiple internet users accused of spreading false casualty figures following the devastating August 26 mudslide at Kyirong Port on the Tibet-Nepal border.
The Tibet Cyber Police announced the enforcement actions on August 30 as part of China’s “Clean Net-2026” campaign. Authorities said the disputed posts exaggerated the number of people killed or missing, misled the public and disrupted online order during rescue operations. Police published 10 cases involving users in Tibet China’s official name for the Tibet Autonomous Region and several other provinces. The individuals were identified only by their surnames.
Among them, a user surnamed Qiu allegedly claimed that 1,400 people had died and 3,000 were missing. Another, surnamed Liu, posted that more than 3,000 people had died on the Tibet side of the border. Other posts cited unverified death tolls ranging from 500 to several thousand. One user claimed more than 1,000 people had been buried by the mudslide, while another said the number of missing had risen to 826.
Authorities also penalized a user in Hunan province who claimed that “tens of thousands” had died and another in Inner Mongolia who wrote that the toll must be at least 1,000. A user in Chongqing was cited for posting what police described as a false death toll in a short-video platform’s comment section. Police characterized all the claims as rumors and said the users had received administrative penalties. Officials did not provide details about the punishments, which in China can include warnings, fines or administrative detention depending on the alleged violation.
The police announcement did not present evidence disproving each post or explain how investigators determined that the users had deliberately fabricated the figures. The enforcement action followed a massive debris flow that struck Kyirong Port in Shigatse, near the Nepalese border. Chinese officials said a collapse involving glacier ice and rock occurred on the northern slope of Nepal’s Langtang Lirung mountain before generating a fast-moving debris flow that travelled about 22 kilometers.
The torrent devastated approximately 0.7 square kilometers around the border crossing, destroying 27 buildings and cutting roads, electricity and communications. As of the evening of August 29, Chinese authorities reported 16 confirmed deaths and 546 people missing, including 261 foreign nationals. The disaster also caused catastrophic losses downstream in Nepal, where hundreds were killed and thousands reported missing.
China’s official casualty figures remained far below some of the estimates circulated online. However, the large number of officially missing people, limited access to the affected Tibetan region and infrequent official updates contributed to public uncertainty over the disaster’s full scale.
The cyber-police campaign highlights Beijing’s tightly controlled approach to information during major emergencies. Authorities maintain that suppressing unverified claims prevents panic and protects rescue operations, while critics argue that punishing speculation without greater transparency can deepen public distrust.
The original August 30 police notice listed 10 cases, although the supplied translated excerpt contains only nine. The omitted tenth case involved a Chongqing user accused of posting an unspecified false death toll. A subsequent regional-government compilation expanded the list to 12 cases.
