Celebrities in China can no longer use social media to “show off affluence” or “extravagant pleasure,” according to the Cyberspace Administration of China.
In a statement, China’s internet-regulation agency claimed that both celebrity and fan-club accounts must “respect public order and good customs, adhere to accurate public opinion orientation and value orientation, promote socialist core principles, and preserve a healthy style and taste.”
The regulations also prohibit celebrities from disclosing inaccurate or private information, inciting fans to fight one another, or creating rumors.
According to a Business Insider article, celebrities’ and followers’ social media accounts will be expected to follow “public order and good customs,” “correct public opinion orientation and value orientation,” “promote communist fundamental values,” and “keep a healthy style and taste.”
The new limits come as China continues to tighten its grip on the entertainment industry, which includes a crackdown on celebrity culture.
At a Communist Party-hosted entertainment industry symposium in September, China’s celebrities were cautioned that they must “oppose the degenerate ideals of money worship, hedonism, and radical individualism.”
The meeting in Beijing ran with the slogan: ‘Love the party, love the country, advocate morality and art.’
It was attended by senior party officials and showbusiness bosses who were told they must conform to social ethics, personal morality, and family values.
Attendees of the conference were told they must ‘consciously abandon vulgar and kitsch inferior tastes, and consciously oppose the decadent ideas of money worship, hedonism, and extreme individualism,’ according to state media.
A list of ‘misbehaving celebrities’ who have allegedly been blacklisted by Beijing was circulated on social media in August.
Zhao, 45, and Zheng, 30, were both on the list, along with Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu, who was arrested on suspicion of rape earlier this year.