Fashion-related social media accounts shut down in celebrity gossip crackdown

Jing Daily reports that the Beijing Cyberspace Administration has ordered China’s “biggest internet companies, including Baidu, Tencent, Youku and NetEase” to shut down dozens of public accounts, including the WeChat account of the “internationally renowned fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar,” though, oddly, not its Weibo account. South China Morning Post notes that the authorities also shut down the Weibo account of popular photographer Zhuo Wei, who had 7.11 million followers.

These accounts were not known for controversial political content, but rather for celebrity gossip and news. The Cyberspace Administration based its crackdown on a new cybersecurity law that went into effect on June 1 that was framed as primarily regulating privacy, though protecting the privacy of celebrities’ personal lives was only part of the official statement. The Administration also claimed the censorship was intended to “proactively promote socialist core values.”

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