China moves to regulate digital presence of celebrities

Beijing [China], December 18 : In a recent move to clamp down on the popularity of celebrities, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has launched a new campaign to regulate the digital presence of celebrities in the country.
The campaign aims to cut down on personal information of stars on the internet and their presence on social media sites through advertisements reported The Geneva Daily. The move is also aimed at restraining celebrities from spreading rumours and putting out false information.
The CAC on November 23, made an official announcement to monitor and regulate celebrity fan culture in China. The authorities articulated that celebrities alongside their fan pages must strictly adhere to the public guidelines and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
The officials of CAC proclaimed that they would create a list of celebrities who are promoting bad values such as showing off wealth and making any attempts to influence fans to support their fundraising, reported The Geneva Daily.
The announcement came after the Chinese Communist Party's expressed concern over the nation's developing entertainment industry and the celebrity scandals that follow.
After the announcement, the Internet saw the disappearance of popular actress Zhao Wei from all social media and streaming platforms.
Meanwhile, officials did not provide any concrete reasoning for cancelling Zhao but the state-backed media stated that various scandals over the past year by the actress might be the main reason behind this, reported The Geneva Daily.
Communist Party has been in news lately after tennis star Peng Shuai accused a former senior member of the Chinese Communist Party of sexual assault in an editorial published on Weibo, which was later removed.
After that, she remained unseen for a month until her video call with the International Olympic Committee. Chairman and CEO of Women's Tennis Association Chairman, Steve Simon said in a statement that "Peng Shuai and all women deserve a chance to be heard. The sexual assault case on a former senior member of the Chinese Communist Party should be treated with utmost seriousness. We expect this issue to be carefully investigated with transparency.
It is worthwhile to mention that the government of China earlier had banned global social media giants such as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.
Thus, Chinese social media users which account for a sizeable chunk of global users are largely consuming on domestic sites such as Weibo, Youku, and Renren.
Earlier in August 2021, popular Chinese social media platform, Weibo took down its online list that ranked celebrities by popularity after the claim of state media on children's minds by the entertainment industry.