China’s top internet regulator said on Thursday it would launch a crackdown during the Lunar New Year holiday period to curb social media content it deemed problematic including any that fanned fears about getting married or having children.
Beijing is seeking to boost the country’s birthrate to head off a demographic crunch as its population ages, as young Chinese are delaying or opting out of having children.
As extended families gather for China’s biggest holiday, which begins on February 17, the annual questioning of young people about their marital and childbearing status is a cultural touchstone portrayed in films, books and articles and bemoaned every year online.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) in a statement listed “inciting gender antagonism and exaggerating ‘fear of marriage’ and ‘anxiety about childbirth'” as primary examples of content “maliciously inciting negative emotions” that should be taken down by social media platforms.
Aimed at creating a “festive, peaceful, and positive online atmosphere for Chinese New Year”, the month-long crackdown will target a range of topics, including what the CAC called “digital slop”.
The statement said major social media platforms would be urged to establish task forces, strengthen staffing and increase online inspections, particularly during the upcoming nine-day holiday.
Sites that host unacceptable content will be investigated and punished, it added.
The regulator also singled out mass-produced AI content that “exaggerates family conflicts and intergenerational clashes, such as ‘parental favouritism’, ‘mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts’, and ‘sibling fights'” to generate traffic.
Also in the crosshairs is AI content that is “low-quality… illogical, (and) empty of information”.
Content “flaunting wealth”, vulgar and violent videos, as well as suggestive images and text will also not be tolerated, the CAC said.
Beijing requires social media companies to moderate their platforms, and the CAC plays the role of the country’s top censor in relaying standards and monitoring how they are applied.
It said in September it would take action against ByteDance-owned news app Jinri Toutiao and Alibaba’s internet browser company UCWeb for displaying what it said was harmful content, a day after announcing a two-month social media crackdown.
That same month, it also announced penalties against three popular digital platforms — micro-blogging platform Weibo, short video app Kuaishou and Instagram-like Xiaohongshu — for allegedly neglecting content management duties.
Authorities have not specified what punitive actions are being taken against those platforms.
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