China’s top internet regulator announced a sweeping two-month crackdown on social media, vowing to combat content that contains “malicious incitement of conflict” and “negative outlooks on life, such as world-weariness.” Beijing requires social media companies to moderate content on their platforms, with posts strictly controlled to avoid anything considered too subversive, vulgar, pornographic, or generally harmful.
The notice from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) follows a series of penalties announced this month against three popular digital platforms, which it said had neglected their content management duties. On Saturday, the CAC stated it would take “disciplinary and punitive measures” against micro-blogging platform Weibo and short-video platform Kuaishou, accusing them of highlighting celebrity news and “undesirable” content. This followed similar action taken by the CAC on September 11 against the Instagram-like Xiaohongshu, also known as Rednote. Authorities have not specified the exact punitive actions being taken against these three platforms.
The two-month campaign, whose start date was not specified, aims “to regulate the malicious incitement of conflict and the promotion of violence and vicious currents,” the CAC said. The statement then listed specific online issues authorities hope to tackle, including “exploiting social hot spots to forcibly associate identity, region or gender with other information, stigmatizing and hyping them.” In practice, this could mean a clampdown on posts about discrimination. In July, local officials in eastern Zhejiang province warned comedians against stirring up gender discord with stand-up routines that joked about the battle of the sexes.
Other problems targeted by the campaign include the dissemination of “rumors” about the economy, finance, social welfare, and public policy. Social media users told AFP in late 2023 that Weibo had previously warned against posting “pessimistic” views about the economy. Monday’s notice also mentioned “maliciously interpreting social phenomena, unilaterally exaggerating negative individual cases and exploiting them to promote negative outlooks on life such as world-weariness.” This could be seen as a reference to “lying flat” or “letting it rot” culture—widespread phrases used by young Chinese to describe lifestyles that reject grueling work in favor of an easier pace. The crackdown, the statement concluded, aims to “foster a more civilized and rational online environment.”
