China will transfer to crack down on the “chaotic” on-line celeb fan tradition, the nation’s our on-line world regulator mentioned in a discover revealed on Friday, a part of an ongoing state marketing campaign to “rectify” the Internet sector.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) mentioned it might take motion towards the dissemination of “harmful information” in celeb fan teams and shut down dialogue channels that unfold celeb scandals or “provoke trouble”.

Beijing has in latest months voiced sturdy criticism of fan tradition after a variety of celebrities together with Canadian-Chinese pop star Kris Wu and Chinese actor Zhang Zhehan had been caught up in scandals and has requested its Internet firms to train social accountability.

Companies which have up to now responded embody video streaming platform iQiyi and the Twitter-like Weibo which have introduced adjustments to their choices.

The CAC mentioned it would enhance the best way it regulates the promotion of celebrities on-line and in addition ban lists that rank celebrities by recognition, the discover mentioned.

It can even take motion towards the monetary exploitation of netizens by means of the sale of merchandise or by charging followers to vote for his or her favorite acts in on-line selection reveals. It additionally goals to limit entry to on-line fan teams for minors.

Earlier this month, Weibo took down a listing that ranked celebrities by recognition after state media mentioned social media platforms should rein within the promotion of celeb tradition to guard kids.

On Thursday, Chinese video-streaming platform iQiyi introduced that it might cease exhibiting “idol competition” programmes.

The firm, China’s equal of Netflix, dropped the third season of its in style expertise present “Youth with You” earlier than its finale earlier this yr after an issue by which followers of the present had been filmed losing milk of their bid to qualify to vote.

© Thomson Reuters 2021