Chinese teenager beaten to death at internet addiction boot camp

A teenager was reportedly beaten to death by trainers at a rehabilitation camp in China where his parents had sent him to cure his internet addiction.

Deng Fei said he paid 7000 yuan ($A1190) to give his son a month's training at the Guangxi Qihuang Survival Training Camp to rid him of his addiction to the internet.

But instead, the boy's father alleges, that the boy was put in solitary confinement shortly after his arrival and then beaten to death by his trainers who scolded him for running too slowly.

"My son was very healthy and was not a criminal. He just had an internet addiction when I left him at the camp," Deng Fei told the paper. "We can't believe our only son was beaten to death."

China has the world's largest number of internet users with 338 million - more than the entire population of the United States.

More than 10 million of the country's 100 million teenage web surfers are internet addicts, the China Daily said, citing a survey by the China Youth internet Association last year.

There is controversy over the treatments for internet addiction and how it is diagnosed. The health ministry last month banned the use of electroshock therapy to treat internet addiction, the China Daily said.

Source: The Age