The Human Flesh Search Engine

The Human Flesh Search Engine

Vigilantes are roaming Chinese cyberspace, laying the identities of perceived wrong-doers bare.

Chris O'Brien

For Wang Fei, the journey from high-flying advertising executive to jobless national hate figure began with an extramarital affair. His disgrace was absolute and immediate. Rarely is there any other outcome after one becomes a target of the "human flesh search engine."

This is the name given to the Internet-powered manhunts that have achieved notoriety across China this year. A human flesh search engine is where thousands of volunteer cybervigilantes unite to expose the personal details of perceived evildoers and publish them on the Web.

The consequences for those on the receiving end often transcend the virtual world and can include loss of employment, public shaming, even imprisonment. Conversely, the most voracious "flesh hunters" are widely seen as the online equivalent of lynch mobs. Many of the participants are too young to draw a loose comparison with the "public criticisms" and purges of the Cultural Revolution more than 40 years ago.

In Wang's case, his wife posted a series of blog posts expressing her devastation over her husband's infidelity and then leapt to her death from their 24th-floor apartment. Almost instantly, an online mob--the human flesh search engine--enraged at Wang's philandering, exploded into life.

Within days, photographs of Wang appeared on numerous Internet forums alongside his phone numbers, address and national ID number. Slogans were painted on his front door. One read: "A blood debt must be repaid with blood."

His lawyer said Wang was forced to resign from advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi after its Beijing office became subject to abuse and that he was harassed by strangers in the street.

Wang is by no means alone. The human flesh search engine first shot to prominence in 2006, thanks to the macabre actions of Wang Jue, a nurse from Heilongjiang Province.