, and exploiting the community's good faith that her obscure sources matched the article content.
A Chinese novelist unraveled the web of hoax articles in a June 2022 online post, having initially been intrigued by a narrative about a Kashin silver mine before finding its sources to not pass verification. Zhemao posted an apology the same month and revealed herself to have neither an advanced degree nor fluency in English or Russian. She attributed her use of sockpuppet accounts to her loneliness and absence of other social relationships. Volunteer editors blocked her accounts and quickly deleted her hoax articles, though cleanup continued a month later. The incident renewed doubt about Wikipedia's reputation for reliability.
Hoax
Hoax map drawn by Zhemao for an article on the fictional Great Tartar Uprising
Between 2012 and 2022,
Russian history.[2] While combining elements of research with fantasy,[1] her work was comprehensive and cited, though some references were fake. For example, she cited Sergey Solovyov's 29-volume History of Russia from the Earliest Times, which exists, but the Chinese translation she cited does not.[2] The web of articles centered around a "Kashin silver mine" and political ties between "princes of Tver" and "dukes of Moscow".[3] The longest of Zhemao's hoax articles, close to a novel in length, overviewed three fabricated, 17th-century Tartar uprisings and their impact on Russia, complete with a custom map drawn by the user. Another article featured images of rare coins that she attributed to Russian archaeologists. Her work on Soviet deportations of Chinese people was vetted as a "featured article" on the Chinese Wikipedia and translated into the English, Arabic, and Russian Wikipedias.[2] Her articles included elaborate detail on currency and eating utensils.[3]
Zhemao's
alternative histories started in 2010, with fictive embellishments about the Qing dynasty official Heshen. Two years later, she turned to Russian history topics with the biography of Alexander I before expanding to general Russian history, mainly around medieval Slavic states. Zhemao later said that her invented articles were meant to complete gaps in her initial fabrications.[1]
Zhemao gained the community's confidence by posing as a scholar. She described herself as a Ph.D. in world history from
an award in early 2022 to honor her work. But Zhemao used at least four sockpuppet accounts to give her edits the appearance of outside support. In at least one instance, she conversed directly with another account she controlled. Another account presented as a Peking University doctoral student with expertise in Russian history and claimed an off-site relationship with Zhemao. Yet another account had editing history back to 2010 but entered Zhemao's control in 2019.[2] These sockpuppet accounts also contributed false histories about the Qing dynasty and Russia under Vladimir Putin.[1]
Detection
As the saying goes, in order to defend a lie, you must tell more lies.
question-and-answer website Zhihu in June 2022.[2]
Zhemao posted an apology the same month on the
parasocial relationships in the absence of other social relationships and circumstances of her husband's frequent business travel. She apologized to the Russian scholars she befriended and portrayed, and pledged to take up a craft instead of continuing with her project.[2]
Aftermath
A cadre of Wikipedia volunteers reviewed Zhemao's edits to over 300 articles. Some consulted topical expertise to separate fact from fiction.[2] Most of her articles were deleted the same month as Yifan's Zhihu post.[1] Her multiple accounts were permanently blocked. Volunteers continued to review her edits a month later.[2]
The Zhemao hoaxes were among
Wikipedia's largest, having exploited a gap in standard Wikipedia good faith practices in which editors check for proper sources and obvious plagiarism, but not necessarily whether obscure sources verify the article content. Chinese Wikipedia editors described regret in having been deceived, abetted Zhemao, and participated in damaging the encyclopedia's already delicate reputation for reliability.[2]Engadget likened the Zhemao hoaxes to the 2007 Essjay controversy, in which a Wikipedia editor similarly faked their stated expertise.[4]
Multiple publications remarked on the missed opportunity of Zhemao not publishing her writing as standalone fiction,
