LayarHijau – The sudden death of actor Yu Menglong on September 11, 2025 has brought deep sorrow while also sparking heated debate across the internet. Beijing police announced that the 37-year-old actor died after falling from a building under the influence of alcohol, ruling out foul play. Still, speculation, gossip, and conspiracy theories have continued to swirl online.
When LayarHijau asked Baidu AI — the chatbot powered by Baidu’s large language model Ernie Bot (Wenxin Yiyan) — who was rumored to be involved in the case, the system only repeated the official police conclusion. It stressed that Yu’s death was an accident, supplemented with general legal information and a statement that three online rumor-mongers had been punished for “disturbing public order.”
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Even when pressed with more direct questions, Baidu AI consistently avoided mentioning the names of public figures widely discussed in overseas forums. Instead, its answers only pointed to three online accounts — surnamed Zheng, Yuan, and Xu — whom authorities accused of fabricating extreme stories such as “being pushed out of a window,” “tortured before falling,” or “family under control.” Not a single celebrity name appeared in the AI’s responses.
In contrast, Mandarin-language websites based outside mainland China have reported speculation far more freely. Names such as director Cheng Qingsong and actor Gao Taiyu briefly surfaced in online chatter, though both publicly denied any involvement. Independent bloggers on non-official platforms also continue to circulate rumors. Meanwhile, mainstream outlets inside China such as Sohu have chosen the safer route: reporting only the official statements from the accused parties, without touching on the wilder theories circulating online.
Interestingly, when LayarHijau posed the same question to ChatGPT, the answers were more balanced. ChatGPT acknowledged the existence of online speculation but emphasized that police had officially ruled out criminal suspicion. It also added broader context, including the risks of spreading false rumors, the emotional impact on the victim’s family, and how China’s censorship system restricts public discussion.
This phenomenon highlights how censorship functions in China: AI systems, social media, and news portals all operate under strict rules that forbid the mention of certain names in sensitive cases. Online platforms risk legal penalties if they are deemed to be spreading defamation, while authorities stress the importance of maintaining “public opinion stability.” As a result, netizens seeking to discuss rumors have resorted to creative methods, using initials, punctuation, or vague phrases such as “某Q导演” (“a certain director Q”) to avoid automatic deletion.
Thus, the Yu Menglong case leaves not only lingering questions about the cause of his death but also about how information itself is produced, restricted, and filtered in China’s digital public sphere. Inside China, Baidu AI and other platforms are bound tightly to stability and regulation, while outside China, more open discussions remain possible — though still accompanied by warnings about the dangers of unverified information.
