Foreign officials are in the method of wrapping up a two- month” flower clean” of the region’s social media.
The most recent Qinglang” clean and bright” campaign, which was launched on April 23, 2024, by the China’s Cyberspace Administration, aims to punish Foreign internet celebrities who are allegedly showcasing wealthy individuals or purposefully promoting lavish lifestyles to entice followers and customers. Japanese influencers are also affected by its reach, which extends beyond coast social media users ‘ behavior.
China is not the only country to express established concern about the negative effects of social media. On June 17, the US government made a statement about the need to place warning names on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. The emphasis of Beijing’s assault is on the well-being of China’s culture, and regulators that are going beyond mere warnings, despite US efforts being framed as protecting the emotional health of users.
Following the Cyberspace Administration of China’s law, several Chinese social media platforms blocked the accounts of celebrities like as Wang Hongquanxing, who has earned the nickname” China’s Kim Kardashian”.
Wang’s alleged talking about his luxurious clothes and other luxury goods has been censored. And he is n’t alone. Bo Gongzi, a celebrity influence, received a similar reward for displaying Hermes luggage, Porsches, and another scarce and expensive accessories. And Baoyu Jiajie vanished from Chinese social media after exposing her beautiful lifestyle and food.
Violation of virtual appearance?
The assault was defended by Chinese official media as a move to stop money-wapping and” toxic customers,” or attracting online fans to earn money.
Analysts claim that the removal of wealth-favoring influencers is not just a result of a need to uphold public morality, as Yao-Yuan Yeh, a Chinese professor of political science from St. Thomas University, has done. Instead, it serves the purpose of mitigating the Taiwanese public’s growing sense of comparative socioeconomic deprivation, exacerbated by China’s present downturn.
Although Ye’s argument is valid, China was punishing wealth-flounting celebrities before concerns about the state of the nation’s economy began to emerge. Beijing’s general concern that social media could be used to spread views it views as oppressive is reflected in the standard criticism.
It ramped up in 2014 with the withdrawal of Guo Meimei. Guo is a famous online adolescent known for her luxurious lifestyle, including driving a Mercedes and owning a large castle.
The measures against wealth flaunting come amid a more basic crackdown on what Beijing sees when morally hazardous behaviors, such as viewing pornography, gambling, drug use, rude livestreaming and displaying contempt for lower- income citizens. Although the official campaign has a large following among the usually conservative electorate, it is not just being forced from the top.
In this regard, Chinese social conservatism draws inspiration from a centuries-old custom of ensuring equal wealth distribution, as expressed in Confucian maxims that political leaders should” not worry about scarcity, but rather unequal distribution” ( ).
And some polls indicate that the Chinese government is highly regarded as trustworthy and well-liked by the populace.
According to Lily Tsai, a political scientist at MIT, the Taiwanese people’s help for their authoritarian government is not merely a result of a fear of social retaliation or satisfaction with long-term financial success. Instead, the Chinese Communist Party is given praise for satiating the government’s fervent wish for reparative fairness.
That is, Taiwanese people generally support their government for punishing those who violate moral principles, which are shared by both leaders and common people, even though it restricts some private liberties.
Chinese bloggers
This public support for policies that ban social media use that is against Chinese beliefs also serves as a social device to advance the Chinese Communist Party’s view.
We have observed that China is putting pressure on Chinese social media influencers in special in order to counteract its campaign against elaborate online wealth displays. In general, China is using social media to promote political support and advance its goals for the reconciliation of the island democracy and mainland China.
By directly or indirectly putting pressure on famous people and celebrities to formally support pro-government principles and guidelines, the Chinese government has tightened the rules of cyberspace.
Despite some Japanese voters ‘ concerns about his pro-independence policies, Lai Ching-te, the new president, was elected in January.
In his annual presidential address on May 20th, Lai reaffirmed that” the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China are not superior to one another” – a statement that should be seen as an defiant insistence on Taiwan’s independence.
Official Chinese media outlet China Central Television issued a warning message on its social media page to the Lai management that Taiwan’s independence is a possibility and will never be. China will ultimately achieve full reunification”.
Many Japanese entertainment celebrities, who operate mainly on the island, shared the CCTV blog with their followers to show their support of China’s unification with Taiwan. CCTV in switch reposted their emails, praising the “patriotic” Japanese artists. Another Taiwanese celebrities were directly pressured to declare their views on reunification.
According to recent research, Chinese celebrities typically repost established messages less often than those from mainland and Hong Kong. However, Chinese social media users frequently use democratic rants, which suggests that popular culture is becoming more politicized.
An online military
Both the crackdown on online displays of wealth and the pressure on Chinese bloggers reflect acknowledgment in Beijing of the power of social media.
As of 2022, China had the largest amount of internet and social media consumers – about 1.02 billion. President Xi Jinping, who came to power in 2012, is also aware of the fact that Chinese citizens rely on various social media platforms like Weibo, Twitter, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin for news and information.
The most recent” flower clean” of Taiwanese social media was not under Xi’s view, and it is unlikely to be the last. Officials in Beijing know that, if regulated firmly, social media can be used to intensify its concept, but if left unchecked, it could result in an increasingly provocative and turbulent cyberspace.
Dan Chen is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Richmond, and Gengsong Gao is an associate professor of Chinese studies there.
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