By Moya Zhao
The People’s Daily, a state run newspaper, has heavily criticized online platforms for giving fame and wealth to individuals who were “unworthy;” this came during a wider crackdown on online firms in China. Weibo described it as “irrational support” for celebrities by many of their fans.
The Economic Daily has also come out about teenagers being prone to internet addiction, specifically for internet gaming. This caused many platforms to drop by more than 10% for the criticism.
Articles have stated that teenagers have also often chosen who they follow based on online popularity, tending to choose celebrities who are more prominent online. Platforms such as Weibo rank the pages by popularity based on the amount of posts as well as the amount of followers. Many others have also made it possible for fans to interact with their favorite celebrities.
Many fanclubs have developed beyond the normal point and have caused many concerns about how the internet affects the young minds of teenagers. Agencies have hired “click farms” to artificially boost the presence of their celebrities.
Fan Culture has made the internet somewhere unsafe for younger users and has created higher demand for socially responsible role models. Many parents also hope to have more regulations on these platforms to ensure safety.
This has only become even more eminent after the popular singer rapper and actor, Kris Wu was arrested for suspicion of rape. He has denied all allegations.
Fan clubs have also continued gathering even when the Covid 19 pandemic was in it’s worst moments and large groups of people without enough social distancing or masks has made it even harder for matters to be handled. These groups also tend to abuse stars they dislike and defend their own favorites even when actions are objectively horrific.