BEIJING: China’s internet regulator said on Thursday (Sep 11) it had ordered “warnings and strict punishment” to bosses at popular social media app Xiaohongshu over its online content, slamming “trivial” and “negative” posts.
Unlike China’s Douyin – TikTok’s sister app – or the micro-blogging site Weibo, Xiaohongshu leans heavily towards apolitical content such as lifestyle, travel, beauty and food topics.
It is seen as relatively less censored than other platforms: users can be found posting LGBTQ content and discussing the merits of women remaining single, topics often considered sensitive in China.
“Responsible individuals” at the Instagram-like platform would be punished after Xiaohongshu, known as RedNote in English, failed to “fulfil its main responsibility of content management”, the Cyberspace Administration of China said in a statement on Thursday.
It gave no details of the punishments.
The regulator criticised Xiaohongshu for hosting “numerous posts hyping celebrities’ personal dynamics and trivial matters and other negative content frequently populating the trending search list”.
“A clear, clean and healthy cyberspace aligns with the interests of the people,” it added.
Xiaohongshu confirmed it had been summoned and penalised “over the issue of mismanaging its trending search”.
“We sincerely accept this, (and will) profoundly learn lessons,” an official account said in a statement on the platform.
It added that it had launched a “special rectification working group” to better its trending search governance and “humbly accepted” oversight from its users.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-imposed-punishment-xiaohongshu-content-5343751
