For years, Chinese authorities have censored online material seen as unfavorable to the government. Now, regulators are focusing on what they describe as digital pessimism.
In late September, the Cyberspace Administration of China launched a two-month campaign aimed at curbing expressions that “one-sidedly promote absolutist and pessimistic sentiments such as ‘hard work is useless’ and ‘studying is useless,’” according to the agency’s English-language statement.
Officials claim that some users are “maliciously interpreting social phenomena, amplifying negative individual cases, and using them to spread bleak outlooks on life such as world-weariness.”
Regulators also accused individuals of “splicing and editing content or using matrix accounts to fabricate and spread rumors about the economy, finance, social welfare, and public policies,” as well as “creating false identities and personas such as ‘masters’ and ‘experts’ to ‘sell’ anxiety around employment, marriage, and education.”
The move followed reports of social media users losing accounts or having videos removed after discussing the “lying flat” lifestyle — a Chinese trend that rejects overwork and prioritizes rest, CNN reported.
According to China’s state-run CCTV, the new enforcement drive will target “short videos, livestreams, social media platforms, and forums,” with particular attention to content that “deliberately creates gender, regional, and class divides.” The network added that “once an illegal account is discovered, its traffic should be restricted, its content should be banned, and its account should be blocked, effectively acting as a ‘filter’ for cyberspace.”
The government’s heightened control over online expression comes as China faces slowing economic growth and increasing unemployment.
“The root cause is deteriorating economic and social prospects for many Chinese, which has led to what for any country would be a natural social response — the expression of anxiety and misgiving,” David Bandurski, director of the China Media Project, told The New York Times.
Weibo, one of China’s largest blogging platforms, has reportedly deleted more than 16,000 posts and imposed temporary bans or account closures on over 1,200 users under the new campaign.
