110,000 social media accounts shut down to 'protect' bored youth in China during winter holidays

Since December 18, authorities shut down 110,000 social media accounts for spreading harmful information. Not only that, an impressive 496,000 illegal and irregular articles were scrubbed from online platforms, according to a statement by the Beijing office of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released on Tuesday.

If you find the timing odd, the crackdown may well have been motivated by the winter holiday season. During the holidays, more young people spend time surfing the internet -- so it is necessary to create a “healthy network environment” for them, according to Communication University of China professor Wang Sixin quoted by nationalist tabloid Global Times.

Chinese online censors are known for their strict stance towards violent and vulgar content, but -- surprise -- they also have little tolerance towards criticism against the government. More recently, negative news about the economy amidst the China-US trade war has also come under the watchful eye of content regulators, with the CAC issuing a warning to financial information providers.

The online clean-up crackdowns are nothing new to China, but they hit particularly hard during 2018, with many live streaming and content sites being criticized and some -- like China’s Rage comics -- ending up permanently shut down. However, it’s rare to see so many swept up at once.