No more celebrity lists: NetEase joins Weibo and Tencent in pulling rankings as Beijing bears down on fan clubs
- NetEase Music has removed celebrity ranking lists from its platform and limited purchases of digital albums to one per user
- Move comes after country’s internet watchdog told local authorities to cancel celebrity rankings and tighten oversight of celebrity marketing agencies
Chinese tech giant NetEase has joined Weibo and Tencent Holdings in removing celebrity ranking lists amid Beijing’s ongoing crackdown on fan club culture in the country.
NetEase Music, one of China’s leading music streaming services, on Sunday removed celebrity ranking lists from its platform and limited purchases of digital albums to one per user, making it the latest internet company to respond to Beijing’s call in recent weeks to curb celebrity worship.
“NetEase Music will step up its measures to curb unruly fan culture on the platform,” read a company statement on Sunday. “We have been cleaning up harmful information, strengthening our minor protection features and boycotting ‘the unconstrained celebrity worship’ on the platform.”
“Rationality is the star worth chasing for a lifetime,” the NetEase statement said.
The move comes after the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country’s internet watchdog, told local authorities to cancel all forms of celebrity rankings and tighten oversight of celebrity marketing agencies, according to a CAC report on Friday.
Over the weekend, QQ Music, the leading music streaming platform from Tencent Music, announced that it has restricted digital album purchases by users. China’s top microblogging platform Weibo also promptly removed its celebrity ranking list.