China censors now blocking pessimistic content online

The new guidelines released on Tuesday come from the Cyberspace Administration of China, as part of an effort to limit “misleading content” or content promoting “incorrect values,” according to the South China Morning Post. In March, the government agency had said it would focus on removing internet content that wasn’t aligned with the government’s values. These censorship efforts are part of a broader three-year-old campaign called Qing Lang, which aims to curb some negative aspects of social media and previously focused on things like limiting toxic fan cultures. The latest version, which includes the new restrictions on pessimism, is aimed at addressing mental concerns online, according to the South China Morning Post.

From 2021 to 2022, the effort shut down 10,500 websites, 1.35 billion accounts, and deleted 76 million messages, according to the Cyberspace Administration. 

The latest push to limit the doom and gloom of social media seems to target the country’s ailing economy, which continues to stall amid its slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Chinese youth have taken the brunt of the hit. In the spring, youth unemployment hovered around a record 20%. The numbers were so bad the government opted to simply stop sharing them. In August, the yuan fell to a 16-year low against the dollar.

Even before unemployment became rampant, China’s young workers had started to rebel against prevailing careerist attitudes, with the “lying flat” movement, which rejects material achievement, gaining steam. (Although the subculture certainly has its detractors among the executive class). Now, people posting that sort of content or fretting about the economy in general might find themselves in violation of…