China's latest online crackdown targets mean girl online fan clubs that turn toxic
- Reference: 1623822911
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/06/16/china_cyberbullying_fan_quan_crackdown/
- Source link:
The campaign known as “Clear and Bright,” initiated by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), started yesterday and will continue for the next two months.
Fan quan see a great many - sometimes millions - of a celebrity or brand’s followers congregate to form an online gang that sometimes descends into abusive language, doxxing, and other aggressive behaviors in an effort to promote their chosen celebrity over others. Beyond simply fighting for their chosen celebrity, the largely underaged members often donate money to their idol of choice.
[1]
The fervor can often be akin to that of sports fans or even political adherents, although the chosen target is typically apolitical in nature. The exception might be the case of [2]Ivanka Trump , who in 2017 found herself a cult figure to Chinese online fan clubs. In some cases, the target has been a brand.
[3]
[4]
This fan economy in China is huge and is treated as a [5]business model where income, popularity and relevance relies on the devotion of one’s fans- like a social media influencer meets Kickstarter campaign gone viral and well, sometimes dirty.
Some [6]estimates say in 2020 the fan economy reached 100 billion yuan (US$31.2 billion). Another [7]report found that 36 percent of fans are willing to spend between US$15 and US$78 each month on their idol of choice.
[8]
The CAC wants to shut down and disband some of these social media groups it has deemed a “bad influence” for cyberbullying and solicitation of money from children, plus creating environments that reward and encourage the flaunting of wealth, manipulating social media comments and use of bots to increase traffic.
When The Register ran the [9]CAC’s announcement through an online translator, we learned it states:
This special action will address prominent issues in the online "fan circle", focusing on key links such as celebrity lists, hot topics, fan communities, and interactive comments, and comprehensively clean up the "fan circle" fans from verbal abuse, stigmatization, and instigation.
After listing some of the aforementioned bad behaviors, the CAC added:
During the period, a number of accounts and groups that have a bad influence on fundraising, rumors, and infringement of privacy will be closed and disbanded, and illegal accounts and illegal accounts such as "fan circle" professional fans, malicious marketing, and online navy will be strictly dealt with, and connivance will be dealt with severely.
Thus far, platforms enabling the fan clubs like social e-commerce/influencer mashup [10]Xiaohongshu and TikTok’s Chinese sibling [11]Douyin have agreed to comply. ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YMnLwCpUYOoqo-OQui8zBwAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ivanka-trump-has-huge-chinese-fan-club-worshiping-goddess-ivanka-n748296
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YMnLwCpUYOoqo-OQui8zBwAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YMnLwCpUYOoqo-OQui8zBwAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201805/18/WS5afe1b97a3103f6866ee91f4.html
[6] https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3137406/beijing-targets-chaotic-online-fan-clubs-clean-increased-doxxing
[7] https://www.thinkchina.sg/working-mothers-are-biggest-spenders-fan-economy-china?page=2
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YMnLwCpUYOoqo-OQui8zBwAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] http://www.cac.gov.cn/2021-06/08/c_1624735580427196.htm
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/08/chinese_app_xiaohongshu_censored_by_beijing/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/23/tiktok_privacy_report_citizenlab/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Yes, but at least they are Thinking Of The Children (TM).
We have our sob stories on this side where girls were actually driven to suicide. I think we could do with a bit of cleaning up as well.
Yes, it's China, and yes, it is a totalitarian state, but in this case, what it is doing is protecting children and young teenagers from their own excesses and from bad influence. There is no political bias here, it is not to impose the Will Of The Party and have them all sing the national anthem every time they log on.
I approve this move. Children must be safe online.
"on the other hand, it looks like the State telling what is good to think and what isn't, the Big Brother way"
No "looks like" about it. This is absolutely the CCP telling it's citizens what it deems acceptable. It's not a democracy, there's no 'bill of rights' or anything similar. In China, the government decides what people can do online (or anywhere else), and the people have to obey that or face the consequences.
"donate money to their idol of choice"
How to rob the poor to give to the rich - it's fun to see how a country ruled by a Communist party is a heaven for the worst oligo-capitalism, or maybe that's exactly the cause. When you're brainwashed since childhood to admire and worship some "dear leader" without any doubt, you're going to look for one.
Re: "donate money to their idol of choice"
It's "communist" in name only. The Chinese system is state capitalism and a(nother) blot on the name of Communism, which kind of died a slow lingering death along with Rosa Luxemburg's demise.
But it will eventually rise again...
Shirley this is just a case of . . . . kicking the quan down the road!
As often with Chinese new rules, this one is ambiguous. In one hand, it seems a good idea to try to curb fans exploitation, in the other hand, it looks like the State telling what is good to think and what isn't, the Big Brother way.