Chinese police detain four for fitting room sex tape

The individuals involved in the case were being held on suspicion of spreading obscene content, according to a police statement released late Sunday. Some news sources in China reported that as many as five people may have been arrested in the case. Other than the actual couple depicted in the video, up to three other individuals were suspected of spreading "obscene information."

Police said they were still investigating the couple who could be seen in the mobile phone video, apparently having sex in the Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo's flagship store in Beijing's Sanlitun district. They added that the couple, who was among those detained, had admitted to sending the video to a friend on the mobile chatting app WeChat, and that the video had later somehow appeared on the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo. The video was said to have been produced in April.

Viral video as a media stunt?

Uniqlo has denied any involvement in the video, which spread online last week. Scores of people later took selfies outside the Beijing outlet, some mimicking the poses seen in the footage. A report by state-run broadcaster Beijing Television, however, questioned whether the sex tape might be a media stunt:

"The police investigation has two main parts," the broadcast said. "Who published this unsavory video? And was it an example hyping up the business (Uniqlo)?"

China's online regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), said that distributing the footage went "against socialist core values." CAC had already chastised two of the country's main Internet companies, Sina Corporation, which runs Sina Weibo, and Tencent Holding, which runs WeChat, for allowing the video to spread.

Censorship and punishment

China operates a stringent censorship system - dubbed abroad as the Great Firewall. It blocks sites and content deemed to be pornographic, violent or politically sensitive. Popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are inaccessible in the country.

According to the official Xinhua News Agency, people convicted of disseminating such obscene material in China can face up to two years' imprisonment, while those who produce such content for profit can face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Foreign governments, including Germany, have condemned China's imposed limitations on individual freedoms.

ss/kms (AP, AFP, dpa)