China penalizes online influencers for violations

[Photo: iclick]

China’s latest sweep against wayward online influencers arrived with a familiar message: if you build a massive audience, Beijing expects you to behave like a model citizen.

In a statement released earlier this month, cited by China Daily, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) named a roster of high-profile creators penalized for everything from tax offenses to “promoting harmful values.”

The move continues a multi-year effort to tame a monetized, celebrity-driven digital ecosystem that regulators increasingly see as chaotic, hyper-commercialized and occasionally borderline seditious.

Several influencers boasting millions — in some cases tens of millions — of followers on Weibo and Douyin saw their accounts shut down or placed under extended suspension for content deemed corrosive to social norms. The CAC accused them of repeatedly pushing materialism, parading luxury lifestyles and generally encouraging a values system the regulator considers unfit for a country trying to promote “positive energy.”

According to China Daily, one internet celebrity was disciplined for promoting overseas pornographic films, while the popular livestreamer Zhang Xuefeng — famous for blunt college-admissions advice — was “slapped” with a temporary ban for what regulators described as pervasive vulgarity. Given Zhang’s enormous reach among anxious students and parents, the CAC framed his suspension as a necessary corrective to keep public discourse “civilized.”

Tax enforcement also muscled into the picture. China Daily says that after authorities uncovered tax evasion linked to certain streamers, two major influencer accounts on Douyin and Kuaishou had their livestreaming and e-commerce features suspended — a painful penalty in an industry where real-time sales and product tie-ins drive serious revenue.

The CAC stressed that online personalities command extraordinary visibility and therefore “must exercise greater self-discipline” in managing their public behavior: large followings come “with political and moral expectations.” Regulators see influencers not merely as entertainers or small businesses, but as quasi-public figures who help shape cultural attitudes.

The stated aim is to curb excess, reduce social friction and prevent unruly celebrity culture from overshadowing official narratives. It’s a forward-looking digital order, one where platforms and creators operate under explicit governance boundaries and where “chaotic traffic chasing” — the endless scramble for views at any cost — is treated as a systemic risk. MDT