Amidst the so-called "Red Wind Movement" in China's pop culture, Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, announced recently that it had suspended a total of 21 Korean celebrity fan club accounts.
Weibo suspends Korean Fan Club accounts amid 'Red Wind Movement'
According to Chinese media Pengpai on September 6, the "irrationally following and cheering for the Korean stars" has been cited as the reason that 21 Korean celebrity fan club accounts have been suspended for 30 days.
Weibo also deleted the content that sparked the suspension of the 21 Korean Celebrity fan club accounts.
This preventive measure was taken after the CCP Central Internet Safety and Information Committee's Office of the People's Republic of China announced last August 27 a plan to "strengthen management of disorderly fandom.
The new plan says that it is forbidden to release celebrity popularity charts. Aside from that, it will also control the spending of money by minors to support their favorite celebrities. To be specific, fighting between fan clubs of celebrities online by swearing or spreading rumors is strictly prohibited.
Moreover, entertainment agencies will also be held responsible for managing the fan clubs properly. Paid voting by fans in various entertainment programs is prohibited as well. It should not tolerate the fans purchasing celebrity-related products for their idols to win charts.
In response to this, the founder of iQiyi attended a conference about the professional ethics for Chinese broadcasting artists on August 25. There, he stated that he will withdraw his position from producing audition programs for the next several years to cultivate high morals and to comply with rules of the broadcasting industry as well.
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K-Pop fans in China support their idols with all their hearts
The popularity of K-Pop in China is expected to re-spark due to its strong restrictions on the entertainment industry by the government.
In relation to this, there has been a case where a Weibo account was suspended after BTS member Jimin's Chinese fans raised large amounts of money to fly an airplane covered with Jimin's photos.In May, fans bought an enormous amount of milk to give a lot of votes to their favorite idol trainees.
Prior to this, Weibo already took down posts about ten accounts that "irrationally supported idols" after the milk-hoarding of "Youth Uni 3" in May and Posting was also banned for 30 days. Around 6 out of 10 accounts that were suspended were owned by ARMYs (BTS' fandom name).
Weibo then explained that the ban has been issued as a response to authorities' request in regulating the idol industry and establish a healthy fan culture.
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Written by Annie Barmaine.
