Chinese social media platform Weibo banned a fan club of popular South Korean K-pop band BTS from posting for 60 days, saying it had raised funds illegally, a customized aerial shot funded by the fan club. A few days after the ship’s photos were posted online.
The fan club account, which had over 1.1 million followers on Weibo, was centered around BTS member Jimin. The restrictions imposed on the account come amid China’s campaign to clean up the entertainment industry and crack down on irrational behavior displayed by fans.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for a national rejuvenation with the Communist Party tightening controls on trade, education, culture and religion.
The party has since reduced children’s access to online games and is trying to discourage what it sees as unhealthy attention to celebrities. Last week, the government banned men on TV and Murthy Vikas shows for their low moral values, which can have a bad effect on the youth.
Last week a BTS fan account was banned from posting on Weibo after images of a customized airplane from Jeju Air along with images of Jimin circulated online. The customized airplane was part of the club’s plan to celebrate its 26th birthday in October.
The stunt drew intense criticism online for its excesses. Following the backlash, the account issued a statement on its feed last week urging fans to be rational when chasing celebrities for a harmonious and healthy internet environment.
In a statement on Sunday, Weibo said the group had been banned from posting for 60 days after it was found to have raised funds illegally.
Weibo strongly opposes such irrational star-chasing behavior and will deal with it seriously, the statement said.
The fan club began raising funds to prepare for the birthday celebrations in April, with over 1 million yuan ($150,000) in the first three minutes of fundraising activity and 2.3 million yuan ($360,000) in the first three minutes of the fundraising activity, according to state media Global Times. were collected. first hour.
The club also planned to run advertisements celebrating Jimmins’ birthday in newspapers such as The New York Times.
It is not uncommon for K-pop fans around the world to celebrate the birthdays of their favorite celebrities by taking out advertisements in newspapers and billboards or by customizing public transport vehicles with images of their idols.
Many fans also collect money to donate to charitable causes such as funding education for the underprivileged or sponsoring wild animals named after the stars as part of such celebrations.
In a separate statement on Sunday, Weibo also said it banned 21 other fan accounts for 30 days for posting irrational star chasing content. The banned fan accounts were mostly centered around K-pop celebrities, such as members of the South Korean boy bands NCT and Exo, and girl group Blackpink.
Celebrities in China are often pressured to conform to values endorsed by the Chinese government or face consequences. Celebrities such as Fan Bingbing and Zheng Shuang have been heavily fined for tax evasion, and popular actress Zhao Wei last week removed her name from the credits of films and TV shows she starred in without any explanation.
Chinese singer and actor Lu Han, a former member of popular K-pop group EXO, said on Sunday that he would break ties with Swiss luxury watch brand Audemars Piguet after a video circulated online last week called its CEO an over-the-top call to Taiwan. Shown as modern. High-tech country.
China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, opposes any reference to the self-governing island as a country. Under the one-country policy, other countries have diplomatic relations with China or Taiwan, but not with both.
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