China’s Weibo has banned a fan club of K-pop band BTS from posting for 60 days, saying that it had raised funds illegally, days after photographs of a customized airplane funded by the fan club were posted online.
The fan club account, which had more than 1.1 million followers on the social media platform, focused on BTS member Jimin.
The restrictions imposed on the account came amid China’s campaign to clean up the entertainment industry and clamp down on “irrational behavior” exhibited by fans.
Photo: AP
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has called for a “national rejuvenation,” with tighter Chinese Communist Party control of business, education, culture and religion.
The party has since reduced children’s access to online games and is trying to discourage what it sees as unhealthy attention toward celebrities.
Last week, the government banned effeminate men on TV and banned idol development shows for their “low moral values” that could be a bad influence on young people.
The BTS fan account was banned from posting on Weibo after images circulated last week of a customized airplane from Jeju Air with images of Jimin on it. The customized airplane was part of the club’s plans to celebrate his 26th birthday next month.
The stunt drew swift criticism online for its excess.
Following the backlash, the account issued a statement last week on its feed urging fans to be “rational” when chasing celebrities for a “harmonious and healthy Internet environment.”
Weibo said in a statement on Sunday that the group has been banned from posting for 60 days, after it was found to have raised funds illegally.
“Weibo firmly opposes such irrational star-chasing behavior and will deal with it seriously,” the statement said.
The fan club began raising money in April to prepare for the birthday celebrations, the Global Times reported, with more than 1 million yuan (US$155,000) raised in the first three minutes of the fundraising activity and 2.3 million yuan in the first hour.
The club also planned to run advertisements celebrating Jimin’s birthday in newspapers such as the New York Times.
It is not uncommon for K-pop fans worldwide to celebrate the birthdays of their favorite celebrities by taking out newspaper or billboard advertisements, or customizing public transport vehicles with images of their idols.
Many fans also fundraise to donate to charitable causes, such as funding education for the underprivileged or sponsoring wild animals in stars’ names, as part of such celebrations.
In a separate statement on Sunday, Weibo said that it had banned 21 other fan accounts for 30 days for posting “irrational star-chasing” content.
The banned fan accounts were mostly centered around K-pop celebrities, such as members of boy bands NCT and EXO, and girl group Blackpink.
Chinese singer-actor Lu Han (鹿唅), a former member of K-pop group EXO, on Sunday said that he would cut ties with Swiss luxury watch brand Audemars Piguet after a video circulated online last week that showed its CEO referring to Taiwan as an “ultra-modern, high-tech country.”
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
North Korea has executed people for watching or distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, a UN human rights report said on Friday. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher — including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said. The curbs make North Korea the most restrictive country in the world, said the 14-page UN report, which was based on interviews with more than 300 witnesses and victims who had
COMFORT WOMEN CLASH: Japan has strongly rejected South Korean court rulings ordering the government to provide reparations to Korean victims of sexual slavery The Japanese government yesterday defended its stance on wartime sexual slavery and described South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese compensation as violations of international law, after UN investigators criticized Tokyo for failing to ensure truth-finding and reparations for the victims. In its own response to UN human rights rapporteurs, South Korea called on Japan to “squarely face up to our painful history” and cited how Tokyo’s refusal to comply with court orders have denied the victims payment. The statements underscored how the two Asian US allies still hold key differences on the issue, even as they pause their on-and-off disputes over historical
CONSOLIDATION: The Indonesian president has used the moment to replace figures from former president Jokowi’s tenure with loyal allies In removing Indonesia’s finance minister and U-turning on protester demands, the leader of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is scrambling to restore public trust while seizing a chance to install loyalists after deadly riots last month, experts say. Demonstrations that were sparked by low wages, unemployment and anger over lawmakers’ lavish perks grew after footage spread of a paramilitary police vehicle running over a delivery motorcycle driver. The ensuing riots, which rights groups say left at least 10 dead and hundreds detained, were the biggest of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s term, and the ex-general is now calling on the public to restore their
RSS