China's Crackdown On Entertainment Industry To Curb 'Irrational Idol Worship', Bans Online Celebrity Rankings And Regulates Fan Merchandise Sale

China's cyberspace regulator on Friday (Aug 27) notified 10 measures that it says is aimed at combating sick parts of "fan circle" culture in the entertainment industry, tackling irrational displays by devoted fans blindly idolising celebrities, curbing excessive money spend on their "idols," and outlaw the culture of cyberbullying and illegal fundraising widely prevalent in online fan clubs, Global Times reported.

The 10 measures unveiled by Cyberspace Administration of China include cancelling all ranking lists of entertainers, mandating that all online fan communities need to be authorised by agencies associated with the celebrity, regulating the sale of fan merchandise and punishing platforms that fail to quickly delete verbal attacks among fans of different idols.

The internet regulator also ordered local authorities should monitor celebrity culture online to maintain “political and ideological safety in the cyberspace as well as creating a clean internet”.

Following the directive from the regulator, local social media giant Weibo announced on Saturday (Aug 28) it has screened all super topics and lists, and closed 2,558 star-related super topics amid the country's fierce campaign to rectify fanquan chaos.

Weibo has been deleting verbal abuse posts and publishing information of account suspensions weekly since June to tackle verbal abuse and rumors concerning fan circles.

Xigua Video announced on Saturday(Aug 28) that it had removed 3,342 videos and 174,654 comments related to juveniles raising money to support their favorite stars, the improper behavior of star chasers and verbal attacks by different stars' fans. The platform said that 26,199 related accounts had been closed.

In a related move viewed as an attempt to cleanse the industry of bad influences, actress Zheng Shuang was fined 299 million yuan (US$46.1 million) for tax evasion

Local tax authorities charged Zheng of not disclosing 191 million yuan (US$29.5 million) in salary between 2019-2020, resulting in a tax evasion of 48 million yuan (US$7.4 million) and a further 26.5 million yuan (US$4.1 million) in underpaid taxes.

Another celebrity, Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu, has been accused of by multiple women of date rape. He was charged with rape on August 16.