Chinese Weibo Blocks Numerous Finance and Economy-Related Accounts

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo Yujin] Chinese social media platform Weibo has shut down over 50 popular accounts related to finance and economic policies following government directives to block content harmful to the Chinese economy.

According to Bloomberg on the 2nd (local time), Weibo announced that it had closed 52 accounts that violated new regulations concerning financial and economic information.

These include a stock market-related account with 3.25 million followers, as well as other popular accounts mostly having between 100,000 and over one million followers.

These accounts recommended buying specific stocks, posted interpretations of government financial and economic policies, and shared commentary on China's macroeconomy by citing overseas media articles.

On the 1st, Weibo stated that the closures were in accordance with new regulations from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and that further closures would continue.

It explained that "the closed accounts illegally edited and published financial information or engaged in malicious marketing."

On the 27th of last month, the CAC announced it would crack down on spreading fake news or rumors related to government financial and economic policies.

Previously, when the Chinese stock market plummeted during the Two Sessions, Chinese authorities blocked searches for terms such as "stock market," "plunge," and "stocks" on social media platforms like Weibo.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.