The regulator said it will shut down accounts and disband social media groups that are deemed a “bad influence”, while punishing internet platforms that have “indulged” such chaos and failed to correct their activities after repeated orders to do so.

Known as fan circles or fan quan, these clubs are mainly apolitical. But their methods are similar to those of the online community known as “Red Pink”, Chinese nationalist millennials who voluntarily defend Beijing’s official stance and trash opposing views.

During the 2019 Hong Kong protests, a large online group was formed around a fictitious Azhong Gege, or Brother China, to defend Beijing’s policies on the city.

The online fan clubs typically engage in opinion wars against rival groups to ensure that their idol receives positive news and social media coverage.

This marks the second time in the past two months that the CAC has called out these fan clubs about their activities. On May 9, the regulator warned of a clampdown at a press conference amid increased online bullying and violence among these clubs.

Apart from trolling, instigating boycotts and doxxing, online fan clubs have also been known to report to internet authorities alleged misdeeds and offensive statements of a rival group’s idol.

While it is difficult to accurately assess the size of China’s online fan clubs, members are often females in their teens or 20s who are blindly devoted to their idols. They have fuelled the growth of China’s fan economy, which reached 100 billion yuan (US$31.2 billion) in 2020 by some estimates.

A surge of talent competition reality television shows in the country over the past decade has helped to increase the number of online fan clubs, whose members support their idols through various initiatives such as campaigning for votes, creating online buzz and buying the products they endorse.

Xin, who works for a consultancy in Shanghai, calls herself “Potato” online as a member of a fan quan, in which she has seven years’ experience defending her idol. As a loyal club member, Xin makes sure that she regularly clicks on her idol’s account on microblogging site Weibo as well as engaging with the idol’s posts whenever she has the time.

Their idols need relevant “data” to prove their popularity online, which is what fan club members contribute. “For the past few years, I’ve sensed that data has become more important than a star’s [acting or singing] capabilities,” Xin said. “The entertainment agents, social media and brands [that look for ambassadors] just care about the data.”

In a major fan quan incident in February 2020, an author published a novel on a homoerotic literature community, where male idol Xiao Zhan was depicted as a cross-dressing teen who has fallen in love with another well-known male idol. Xiao’s fans reported the content as “underage pornography” to Chinese authorities.

That led to China’s internet police shutting down Archive of Our Own, the open-source platform that has served as a vibrant online literature community. In retaliation, the community’s users initiated a boycott of major international brands Xiao has promoted, including Estée Lauder, Piaget and Cartier.

In three commentary articles published over three days after that incident, People’s Daily slammed China’s entertainment industry for encouraging young fans to carry out such activities.

Even the most devoted members of online fan clubs now welcome the government’s scrutiny, including Shanghai-based Xin.

“Some social media are just making use of fans’ love [of their idols] to grow their active user base,” she said. “Fans are [being] forced to provide them with data.”