Beijing gets tough with celebs and fans

New rules from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) are designed to place limits on celebrity culture and associated online activity.

What’s happening 

• Online platforms are now required to monitor celebrity accounts and create a watchlist of those promoting ‘undesirable values’.
• Each star agency should only have one account on each social media platform, and fan club accounts need to be authorised by the agency.
• Celebrities should not hype their own work, while celebrity endorsements and advertisements should be clearly marked by platforms. 

Why it matters

While it’s not clear how easy it will be to monitor the output of every celebrity (or even what the definition of a celebrity is), additional regulation of their advertising and endorsements will certainly complicate how they are currently used by brands. Advertisers may have to rethink their approach; one option might be to look beyond the numbers in the fan base and bring celebrities in more as creative partners. 

CAC says

“Some online publicity about celebrities is undisciplined. Gossip and private information have occupied the front page and trending topics of some websites, taking up a lot of public resources.”

Sourced from South China Morning Post, Reuters, WARC