Chinese authorities are ramping up their crackdown on fan culture by monitoring the spread of celebrity information online, including their personal details and brand endorsements.
What Happened: Chinese regulators are hitting the gas on their fan culture crackdown. On November 23, the Cyberspace Administration of China announced it will tighten oversight of how celebrity information is spread online in an effort to curb the spread of gossip and star-chasing.
The measures proposed include the establishment of a “negative list,” which would target celebrity information that promotes bad values such as traffic supremacy, “deformed aesthetics,” and wealth flaunting. Efforts to support the comeback of unethical stars or encourage fans to spend excessively on idols are also prohibited. On top of this, platforms must clearly mark celebrity endorsements and brand partnerships and keep track of celebrity accounts based on the size of their following, reporting sensitive content to local authorities.
The Jing Take: These measures come in response to the celebrity scandals, ranging from sexual assault to tax evasion, that continue to plague China’s entertainment space. Just yesterday, Hangzhou authorities reported that it had slapped two top Chinese livestreamers, Cherie and Lin Shanshan, with a total of $14.6 million in fines for misreporting personal income as business income — similar tactics used by actresses Fan Bingbing and Zheng Shuang. Continue to read the full article here
