Recently, there have been many incidents of rumor mongering and blackmailing via the Internet. This includes attacks on companies that were listed or preparing to go public.

In many of these cases, unscrupulous people took advantage of the fact that some companies have issued false financial information and committed fraud in previous IPOs, playing on the fears of investors.

Quite often, companies will pay the blackmailers rather than risk bad publicity and harm to their IPO plans. This means that many such cases of blackmail go unreported, and continue to recur unchecked by the law.

The information disclosed by companies in their IPOs should be rigorous and objective. False information and fraudulent claims leave them open to blackmailers.

Whistle-blowers should also be protected, but must not distort facts or libel the companies.

Based on a report from the People's Daily.