Chinese Blogger Who Exposed Academic Fraud Silenced After Triggering High-Profile Dismissals

A Chinese anti-fraud blogger who had exposed academic misconduct at several of China’s most prestigious universities announced on May 29 that his Douyin—China’s version of TikTok—account had been permanently restricted. At the same time, his access to Xingtu, Douyin’s advertising platform, was permanently revoked, effectively cutting off a major source of income.

The young man, known online as “Student Geng,” recently accused a number of prominent life-science researchers of falsifying data in academic papers. Soon afterward, a series of university faculty members lost their positions.

On May 6, a dean at Tongji University was removed from office. On May 30, Nankai University dismissed the dean of its School of Life Sciences and a departmental vice director, while Sun Yat-sen University removed a vice dean and other members linked to disputed research.

In the London-based Times Higher Education “Best Universities in China” 2026 ranking, Tongji University takes 11th place, Sun Yat-sen University ties for 14th place, and Nankai University is ranked 19th.

In a statement released on May 30, Nankai University said an investigation found that a 2024 paper published in Nature Cancer contained multiple instances of academic misconduct. According to the university, 11 figures relied on estimated rather than accurately quantified data, two images involved duplicated data, and one image contained a data-pasting error.

Chen was removed as dean of the School of Life Sciences, demoted in professional rank, and barred for 24 months from promotions, salary increases, research grant applications, and various awards and appointments.

A corresponding author on the paper, professor Hu of the School of Statistics and Data Science, received a formal admonition for failing to adequately ensure the authenticity of the research data.

The same day, Sun Yat-sen University announced disciplinary measures involving two papers found to contain serious problems. One paper’s authors were ordered to issue corrections or retract the work. Kang Tiebang was removed from his positions as deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Southern China Malignant Tumor Prevention and Treatment and deputy director of the Experimental Research Department at the university’s Cancer Center. The paper’s first author was demoted. Separately, Kuang Dongming was removed from his position as vice dean of the School of Life Sciences, while a graduate student connected to the paper had the awarding of a degree postponed for one year.

Both universities released their disciplinary findings late on a Saturday evening. Chinese biologist Rao Yi and many Chinese internet users commented that the timing appeared designed to minimize public attention. Rao, the former dean of Peking University’s School of Life Sciences, has also repeatedly exposed academic misconduct and criticized flaws in the country’s research system.

Geng began his campaign in April. Using his real name Geng Jiangtao, he publicly accused nine leading scholars from five universities of fabricating or manipulating data in papers published in Nature or its affiliated journals.

He said many of his leads came from internet users, particularly undergraduate and graduate students, while his primary investigative method involved comparing underlying datasets with computer-assisted analysis.

Despite his growing influence, Geng announced on May 23 that he would temporarily stop exposing academic fraud, citing mounting pressure and concerns for his family’s safety.

On May 28, he declared a complete halt to his investigations, saying that misconduct had become so widespread that “the law cannot punish everyone,” and that the sheer scale of the problem had left him numb.

The following day, he revealed that Douyin had permanently restricted his account, a move that sharply reduced the platform’s recommendation and distribution of all his videos.

Just two days earlier, on May 27, state mouthpiece People’s Daily had published a commentary titled “Student Geng’s Blog Reveals Weaknesses in the Academic Oversight System.” The article was later removed from the website, suggesting that official attitudes toward Geng’s campaign may have shifted as the controversy expanded.

Tang Bing contributed to this report.