言论自由是公民的基本政治权利之一,但是其应以不侵害国家利益、社会公益和他人合法权益为限度,网络谣言不仅超过了这个限度,并且还具有法益侵害性、刑事违法性和应受处罚性三大犯罪特征,严重的网络谣言行为应受到刑事追责。网络谣言可能触犯我国刑法上不同罪名,但从犯罪构成上来看,又具有类型化的特征。对网络谣言进行刑事追责必须遵循严格的限度,立法应进一步明确犯罪认定标准,司法实践中应严格谨慎地进行犯罪认定。同时为了遏制网络谣言的泛滥,促进人们对网络言论的合理注意,有必要对那些存在严重过失并且给社会带来巨大损失的网络谣言行为进行刑事追责。 Freedom of speech is one of the basic political rights of citizens, but it should be based on non-infringement on the interests of the state, public interests and others’ legitimate rights and interests. Internet rumors have not only exceeded this limit, but also have infringements of legal interests, criminal offenses and deeds Three criminal characteristics of punishment, serious rumors of the network should be subject to criminal responsibility. Internet rumors may violate our criminal law on different charges, but from the crime point of view, but also has the type of characteristics. To criminalize the network rumor must follow strict limits. Legislation should further define the standard of criminal identification. In judicial practice, criminal identification should be strictly and cautiously carried out. At the same time, in order to curb the proliferation of online rumors and promote people’s reasonable attention to online speech, it is necessary to criminalize those online rumors that cause serious negligence and bring huge losses to the society.