China launches campaign to keep killjoys off the internet

BBC:

The Chinese government is taking aim at an emotion that has become all too common on the country’s internet – despondency.

This week, China’s Cyberspace Administration launched a two-month campaign to curb social media posts that “excessively exaggerate negative and pessimistic sentiments”. The goal, according to authorities, is to “rectify negative emotions” and “create a more civilised and rational online environment”.

In the crosshairs are narratives like “studying is useless” and “hard work is useless”, as well as stories that promote “world-weariness”.

China has been grappling with an economic slowdown in the wake of a property crisis, high youth unemployment and cut-throat competition for admission to colleges and jobs – all of which have given rise to a sense of disillusionment among its younger generation.

Young people in China “have serious questions about future prospects of their lives” and “must confront the fact that their livelihood is very likely going to be worse than their parents’ generation,” Simon Sihang Luo, an assistant professor of social sciences at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, tells the BBC.

And Beijing’s anxiety over the bubbling frustration has shown itself in a wave of sanctions hitting the country’s influencers and social media platforms.