China has launched a month-long campaign to clean up online content during next week’s lunar new year festival, in its latest effort to reshape behaviour on the internet.
The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s top internet regulator, has instructed officials to sweep away “illegal content and information” and target celebrity fan groups, online abuse, money worship, child influencers and the homepages of media sites.
The campaign will apply the tradition of cleaning house before the new year, the most important holiday in China, to the internet, envisioning a “purification” of the online world.
The edict is the latest step in Beijing’s clampdown on the entertainment industry as authorities purge content deemed immoral, unpatriotic and non-mainstream from online culture.
China has launched a ‘purification’ campaign to clean up online content ahead of next week’s lunar new year.
Officials have been instructed to target celebrity fan groups, online abuse, money worship, child influencers and the homepages of media sites https://t.co/L35zqtTjSJ
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) January 25, 2022