Chinese authorities have detained 10 people for spreading rumours online that have damaged the military's image, the country's defence ministry says.

The so-called rumours included talk of the presence of gangs and infighting in the defence force.

Those detained had been investigated by military and public security departments for spreading rumours on China's internet forums and mobile messaging apps, the Ministry of National Defence said in a notice on its website on Saturday.

"Using the internet to create and spread rumours about the military is illegal and we will continue to investigate and crackdown on this," the ministry said.

"We hope that internet users will abide by the law."

It said all 10 people detained had confessed to fabricating stories and expressed remorse after they underwent "education" and "administrative detention", a term that normally applies to 15 days behind bars.

The ministry did not release their names, but gave the family names of three as Deng, Wang and Hao.

The military has been one of the main focal points of Chinese president Xi Jinping's sweeping crackdown on deep-seated corruption, with several senior officers caught in the net.

The latest detentions, however, show the Communist Party's growing determination to control information about alleged official misbehaviour to avert triggering public dissatisfaction.

Last month, Chinese authorities detained and fined a person for spreading rumours online that several high-ranking naval officers were being investigated for corruption, according to the website of the Communist Party's official People's Daily.

Reuters