Authorities held eight members of a Chinese media outlet after reports of allegedly extorting money from business firms to be covered on the site.

A Chinese media portal was identified to have been collaborating with two PR firms and a major business news site to scam companies with hefty amounts.

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A report from the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Office dated September 3 said the extortion has took place in 2013. The suspects were also identified including the web portal’s CEO Liu Dong and 21cbh.com editor-in-chief Zhou Bin. Two others were also identified working for a PR firm based in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

The police reported victims including well known firms from Guangdong, Shanghai and Beijing and other companies. These companies were said to have plans in going public on different bourses, transition and restructuring plans. This made them a viable target for the suspects knowing they would need media coverage.

The report went on saying companies paid huge sums of money to 21cbh.com to release good publicities and rebut negative news. The news website also published content with exaggerated positive stories.

Furthermore, the report said that when companies declined to pay such amounts, the new site would publish malicious stories against their firms. Thus, they became obliged to pay.

The Shanghai authorities did not mention the exact amount the suspects are coercing their prospective clients to pay. However, it was clear that the suspects profit from their alleged acts, authorities said. On the other hand, Zhou said they charge their clients 200,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan. The website’s CEO Liu said these payments were for the companies to avoid trouble.

The authorities also reported 21cbh.com having signed advertising contracts with more than 100 firms as of 2010 which was valued to millions of yuan paid annually.

Further investigations are being made after the suspects were apprehended and detained on September 3. Authorities are currently on the move against media extortion and paid news.

Tags21cbh.com, Shanghai Municipal Security Office, Liu Dong, Zhou Bin