They were exposed on social media by an unauthorized 3rd party after they were uttered in private, right? That certainly sounds like someone was arrested for something they said in private.
Maybe there's additional context I'm not understanding?
yes? The initial implication was that the police were monitoring the private chat, whereas the second article suggests that the police only became aware after the message was circulated. Surely you can see that these two situations paint different pictures regarding the Chinese surveillance apparatus.
So if I'm understanding correctly, it's not that the arrests didn't happen, or that they happened for a different reason, it's that the government isn't actively soliciting businesses for those kinds of tips. Their attitude is, "we'll arrest you if we hear about it."
