And I know that the NYT is capable of doing more in depth journalism when they decide to. They could try maybe sending journalists to China/hiring Chinese journalists, and actually digging?

Interview people who’ve been arrested for this, find out what exactly it was because of, look at police records, interview cops who’ve arrested people for this or ask the higher up cop about it at a press conference or something. You know, all the stuff you would normally do for a story taking place in the US?

But no it’s in China so all we need is “people on social media said,” no further investigation needed. Like, do they think those things aren’t possible in China? They very much are. China is a normal country with normal procedures regarding journalism and police information. You could actually investigate this and write a real article.