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QR codes inside caps of bottled drinks
in order to vote for their idols. The
video which cannot be confirmed has
triggered an intense backlash online.
Responding to the CAC’s cam-
paign, social media platforms such
as Weibo and Douban, another social
media platform where fans gather, an-
nounced that they will strengthen reg-
ulations on online fan activities. Ac-
counts involving in “inappropriate fan
activities” like hurling abuse, will be
banned temporarily or permanently.
Entertainment companies fol-
low suit. Some companies call for
rational star-chasing on their official
Weibo accounts. Weibo made an announcement about the cancellation of the celebri-
Online fan clubs also make ties’ popularity ranking list in its official account on August 5, 2021.
similar statements on Weibo and re-
name their accounts to avoid being names. lar Chinese actress, with more than
suspended. Words such as ‘fan club’ At the end of August, fan club 2.5 million followers on Weibo was
are removed from their account user- account of Zhao Liying, a popu- banned temporarily by Weibo’s cen-
sorship system. Before the account
was banned, an online verbal fight
broke out between fans of Zhao Liying
and another actor, Wang Yibo. Zhao’s
fans wanted to remove Wang from ap-
pearing in a new TV show featuring
Zhao, as previously a TV show having
both of them was not well-received by
the audience.
Fans then realised self-censor-
ship will be necessary to avoid having
accounts being closed. They delete or
turn perceived sensitive Weibo posts
with abusive words into private posts.
Hashtags are also restricted to avoid
being identified as “manipulating so-
cial media comments”.
“[Sensitive words are] like ‘test’,
‘养乐多’, ‘广场’ (Yakult, square).
[These words are usually] used to
manipulate social media comments
and make up hot topics,” Liao ex-
plains.
“I was too lazy to do [self-cen-
sorship]. I have too many posts on
my accounts,” she says. After several
A Chinese Entertainment company, Yue Hua Entertainment, re- weeks, she finds her account contain-
leased statement to call for rational star-chasing on August 27, 2021. ing posts with these “sensitive” words