Case File

The Qinglang Campaign Against Fan Culture

Fan-culture governance linked minors, capital, platform traffic, celebrity morality, and organized mobilization.

In August 2021, online rumors said Zhao Liying and Wang Yibo might work together again. Some of Zhao's fan accounts called for a boycott. A support group demanded separation from the project, and fans of different stars began attacking one another. Weibo silenced or closed several support groups, restricted many personal accounts, and penalized Zhao's studio for failing to manage the fan community. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection later called it the first large-scale silencing of a fan group for mutual attacks after the Qinglang campaign against fan disorder began. ^[2]

Days later, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued ten stricter measures. A dispute among fans had become part of a national campaign against online culture. The target now included rankings, support groups, talent agencies, artist studios, and the values attached to popular content.

A fan dispute became an entry point to regulate organizations

In June 2021, the CAC launched a special campaign against fan disorder, naming inducement of minors to spend, fabricated engagement, doxxing, and mutual abuse. Its August 25 notice abolished individual and group celebrity rankings, banned paid voting and ranking, ordered fundraising groups cleared, and restricted minors' tipping, spending, and management of fan groups. ^[1]

Those measures addressed real harms in the fan economy. The notice also required the campaign to be advanced in the name of online political and ideological security. Celebrity images, works, and organization methods entered the same political standard. The CCP used genuine disorder to widen the target until an unauthorized community itself became a risk.

Ten measures tied platforms, studios, and fan groups together

The notice required fan-group accounts to obtain authorization from an artist's agency or studio. Platforms were told to manage agencies' accounts, commercial promotion, crisis response, and fan activity. Voluntary communities were turned into a vertical chain in which platforms supervised studios and studios supervised fan groups. Platforms control trending lists, recommendations, payments, and group functions. Studios that want to preserve their business therefore have an incentive to cut off fan activity before it creates political risk.

Broad terms such as correct orientation and unhealthy culture make the boundary impossible to predict. A platform may pay more for allowing a later-designated account than for deleting lawful discussion. The result is preventive silencing, closure, and loss of functions. Administrative pressure becomes product design and self-censorship inside the community.

Child protection was connected to ideological security

Restricting minors' impulsive spending, paid ranking, and online attacks has an identifiable protective purpose. The CCP combined those issues with capital, traffic celebrities, incorrect values, and political security. The Party Constitution requires Party leadership over propaganda and ideological work. The Patriotic Education Law assigns duties to schools, families, media, and online services. Fan-culture governance therefore became part of a broader youth ideological project. ^{[3] [4]}

The term Qinglang places fraud, harassment, platform operations, and political loyalty inside one rectification campaign. The broader the category, the less able platforms are to distinguish legal duties from Party expectations, and the less room youth culture has to remain independent. ^[5]

Platforms pay the enforcement cost while the center keeps room to expand

The campaign reduced the visibility of public fundraising, paid ranking, and large-scale abuse. It also narrowed space for voluntary fan organization and discussion. The CAC set the direction, local offices pressured platforms, and platforms punished studios, support groups, and personal accounts. Responsibility moved downward while the center retained control of the political boundary.

The mechanism is not one account ban. It is the redesign of platforms toward preventive censorship. Fan disorder supplied the public justification, platform responsibility supplied the enforcement machine, and ideological security gave the CCP room to move from concrete harm to cultural expression and group organization.

Sources

1. Notice on Further Strengthening Governance of Fan-Culture Disorderprimary-recordUnchecked
2. The Era of Traffic Stars Has Turned a Pageprimary-recordUnchecked
3. Constitution of the Communist Party of ChinaLive

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4. Patriotic Education Law of the People's Republic of ChinaUnchecked
5. China Media Project CCP dictionaryUnchecked

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