Tibet Police Punish 10 Flood Rumour Cases as China Defends 43-Death Toll

1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Sep 8

Ten cases were logged by Tibet police on Aug. 30 under the “Clean Internet 2026” campaign, targeting users who posted unofficial claims about the Nepal-Tibet flood, including reports that more than 1,000 people were swept away.
WeChat deleted or blocked flood posts as “politically sensitive” or in “policy violation,” while researchers said online interest initially surged before comments were removed in real time and the topic faded.
Chinese authorities have kept the official death toll at 43, but Tibetan and human-rights groups accuse Beijing of concealing the true scale of casualties and withholding basic information on missing people.
For families such as Tibetan exile Tsering Phuntsok’s, the controls have left relatives in Tibet unaccounted for, reinforcing critics’ view that the campaign now serves disaster censorship as much as cybercrime enforcement.