Dozens of popular social media accounts and apps\u00a0that focus\u00a0on celebrity and entertainment news have been closed<\/strong> <\/a>on the order of web censors at the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), who cited China’s new cybsersecurity law that came into effect this month<\/a>. This comes on the heels of recently updated news regulations which significantly expand the CAC’s jurisdiction over online news<\/a>. At the South China Morning Post, Zhou Xin reports on this new crackdown on entertainment news:<\/p>\n
\nThe Beijing office of the Cyberspace Administration of China, the censorship agency for websites and mobile apps, said in a notice on Wednesday that the accounts were closed in line with the country\u2019s new cybersecurity law, which came into effect on June 1 and stipulates that online content should not breach privacy.<\/p>\n
[…]\u00a0On Weibo, some 19 popular accounts were shut down, including that of Zhuo Wei \u2013 a photographer who has exposed several extramarital affairs involving Chinese movie stars and who had 7.11 million followers.<\/p>\n
Popular mobile news apps Jinri Toutiao and Yidianzixun, and video site Youku were also told to shut down a number of accounts providing entertainment content.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the censorship agency said the accounts were closed to \u201cproactively promote socialist core values and develop a healthy and positive atmosphere\u201d. It added that it was taking strong measures to curb \u201cexcessive reporting on the private lives of and gossip about celebrities\u201d and the \u201cflaunting\u201d of their wealth and lifestyles.<\/p>\n
The measures have prompted a mixed response online in China. […] [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
While authorities have in the past targeted public infatuation with celebrity lifestyles<\/a> and entertainment gossip with their censorship directives<\/a>, entertainment related stories have generally enjoyed much less sensitivity than news on\u00a0politics or economics. The New York Times’ Amy Qin puts this crackdown into the context of the recent government expansion of news and internet control,\u00a0noting that this comes in the lead-up to\u00a0this year’s 19th Party Congress\u2014a time when political sensitivities run especially high<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n
\nA large number of Chinese \u201ccelebrity news\u201d blogs have disappeared in recent days after coming under the scrutiny of China\u2019s cyberspace regulators. Their absence comes amid a broader tightening of online and media controls ahead of a once-in-every-five-years meeting of\u00a0top Communist Party leaders<\/a>\u00a0this year, at which party officials will consider major decisions about who will lead the country in the coming years.<\/p>\n
[…] \u201cIn China, there were only two areas before that we could say had news freedom: One was entertainment, and the other was sports,\u201d said Gao Ming, host of the podcast Radio HiLight and a former editor at\u00a0AsiaContent.com<\/a>, an online entertainment news company. \u201cBut now I think the government is trying to send a message that all the news needs to be within its control.\u201d<\/p>\n
[…]\u00a0The shutdowns come after a\u00a0new cybersecurity law<\/a>\u00a0and new\u00a0regulations<\/a>\u00a0issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China concerning the provision of news information through social media platforms like WeChat came into effect last week. According to the regulations, all online publishers \u2014 including websites, apps, blogs and social media accounts \u2014 must obtain permits from the authorities in order to publish news or news commentaries. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
At Jing Daily, Yiling Pan notes that some popular\u00a0entertainment news providers are seeing the treatment of their accounts vary depending on the social media platform<\/strong><\/a>, and surveys some of the public reaction to the new crackdown:<\/p>\n
\nAlong with the\u00a0internationally renowned fashion magazine Harper\u2019s Bazaar, 24 other accounts on the super popular social media site WeChat were disabled. The magazine quickly responded by opening a new public account named \u201cBazaar Entertainment\u2019s New Account.\u201d<\/p>\n
[…]\u00a0On Weibo, oddly, Harper Bazaar\u2019s account continues to be live even though the two platforms have pushed out highly similar content in the past. On that platform, the fashion magazine mostly focuses on reporting celebrity collaborations with fashion and luxury brands as well as their attendance at exclusive events like the\u00a0Cannes Film Festival<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Met Gala<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Followers of the closed accounts, however, were angry and voiced concern for what the crackdown on independent media means for freedom of expression in China. […] [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Read more on the recent consolidation of government control over online news<\/a> via CDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"