A social media ban on a stand-up comic for joking about marriage has triggered an online backlash in China.
Authorities said the Weibo account of Uyghur stand-up comedian Xiao Pa was suspended as part of a cyberspace clean-up campaign during the Chinese New Year.
Xiao Pa, whose real name is Paziliyaer Paerhati, was banned from posting online, a verified Weibo community manager posted on Friday (Feb 27).
“Xiao Pa had posted information that stirred up gender conflicts and created anxiety over marriage and childbirth … and was banned,” the post read.
“We call on users to not intentionally associate gender topics when discussing public affairs, not create hate towards certain groups and avoid cultivating a confrontational and divisive public image.”
The manager cited demands of an internet clean-up campaign from the regulatory watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).
The notice, issued days before the Chinese New Year, ordered that action be taken against accounts that “maliciously incite negative emotions”.
Examples included “promoting unhealthy values such as refusing marriage and childbearing, advocating anti-marriage and anti-natalist ideas, stirring up conflicts between men and women, exaggerating fears about marriage, and increasing anxiety about fertility”.
In the comments section of the ban announcement, the Weibo manager shared a screenshot of the post that got Xiao Pa punished.
In early February, she wrote: “I was down with fever for two days, and I thought if I had a husband and children, I would have to lean against the wall to prop myself up and cook for them.”
The CAC launched its month-long official clean-up campaign on Feb 12, saying the aim was to “create a joyful, peaceful, and positive online atmosphere during the Chinese New Year holiday period”.
Besides “inciting negative information”, the campaign also aims to crack down accounts that use artificial intelligence or other new technology to generate “digital garbage”, fabricated information, or direct online traffic to illegal activities such as online gambling and pornography.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-marriage-female-comedian-controversy-5965936
