BE HAPPY... OR ELSE

CHINA PUNISHES 'EXCESSIVELY PESSIMISTIC' SOCIAL MEDIA USERS

- STORY: LILY KUO / NYT

China’s censors are moving to stamp out more than just political dissent online. Now, they are targeting the public mood itself — punishing bloggers and influencers whose weary posts are resonating widely in a country where optimism is fraying.

Authorities have punished two bloggers who advocated for a life of less work and less pressure; an influencer who said that it made financial sense not to marry and have children; and a commentator known for bluntly observing that China still lags behind Western countries in terms of quality of life.

These supposed cynics and skeptics, two of whom had tens of millions of followers, have had their accounts suspended or banned in recent weeks as China's internet regulator conducts a new cleanup of Chinese social media. The two-month campaign, launched by the Cyberspace Administration of China in late September, is aimed at purging content that incites “excessively pessimistic sentiment” and panic or promotes defeatist ideas such as “hard work is useless”, according to a notice from the agency.

“In reality, we all experience fatigue and anxiety as a result of work and life, but these real emotions deserve respect and should not be deliberately amplified for traffic. The internet is not a dumping ground for negativity,” China’s state broadcaster CCTV said in an editorial about the campaign.

Around the world, officials debate how to keep social media from stoking outrage and polarisation that could spill over into real-world violence or harm. The internet regulator in China has framed its campaign in similar terms, expressing concern about messages that stoke divisions based on gender or other group identities or livestreaming content that glorifies self-harm and violence.