An influencer in China has been banned from the country's most popular online platforms for flaunting his wealth. Wang Hongquanxing, a prominent social media influencer nicknamed ''China's Kim Kardashian,'' is known for his extravagant lifestyle including expensive clothing and jewellery.
The controversial move comes as the Cyberspace Administration of China, which regulates China's internet, has started cracking down on the country's social media influencers who show off too much, Forbes reported. The Administration ruled that social media users were not permitted to ''create ostentatious personas.''
The outlet reported that 31-year-old Hongquanxing, a jeweller dealer, has been barred from sites including Weibo, Douyin and Xiaohongshu. An error message displayed Douyin, China's version of TikTok, said his account had been blocked ''due to violations of Douyin's community guidelines''.
Notably, the influencer who had around 4.4 million followers on Douyin often posted about his designer clothing and accessories and frequent appearances at luxury fashion events. He once bragged in an interview that he never left his home without wearing jewellery and clothing that totals at least $1.4 million (Rs 11,64,41,500) in value. He also owns seven luxury properties in Beijing, reported China Daily.
Not just Mr Hongquanxing, the profiles of several other influencers who post about their luxurious lifestyles have been wiped off social media. ''Sister Abalone'', a middle-aged wealthy socialite who gave online tours of her palatial Macau homes and "Mr Bo," who posted about luxury goods were also banned.
The latest crackdown has elicited mixed reactions, with some praising it, while others criticised the Jinping-led government's control over online content.
''It is likely that many people do see this sort of content as vulgar, particularly during an economic slowdown. So this conduct makes the authority seem more moral and upstanding in their actions,” Carwyn Morris, an expert on Chinese internet policy for Leiden University in the Netherlands, told Financial Times.
The ''Clear and Bright'' campaign started in April, when the country's internet watchdog, vowed to crack down on influencers who created ''ostentatious personas to cater to vulgar needs, and deliberately display extravagant lifestyles filled with money''.
''Once materialism starts spreading, it can have a bad influence on teenagers . . . Hence this trend of luxury on the internet needs to be stopped,'' the authorities announced in a statement published by state-run media in China.
