In their ongoing efforts to control what is shared online, China’s internet censors have begun to target and remove financial information that they deem to be “chaotic,” China’s State Internet Information Office said.
“The [State Internet Information] Office has kept up a high-pressure crackdown on chaotic online financial information, and has worked with relevant departments to deal with a number of accounts engaged in illegal stock recommendations, illegal financial intermediaries and other activities on platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, Weibo, and WeChat,” state-run news outlet Xinhua reported.
In addition to financial insighst claiming to be “expert guidance,” authorities are also targeting “illegal information that diverts and attracts traffic,” unlicensed financial services, and fraudulent investment schemes promising quick wealth, the Office added.
This crackdown came after the removal of a viral speech by economist Gao Shanwen, who criticized the government’s handling of youth unemployment and questioned the accuracy of official economic data.
In his speech, Gao said that rather than pursuing potential careers and contributing to the economy, youths would rather “turn off the lights and eat noodles” — a term coined to describe someone who has suffered financial losses, often due to failed stock market investments, Baidupedia reads.
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The speech seemed offensive enough to censors that it was removed from the “Economist Book Club” public account on WeChat. Gao’s own financial commentary account on the site was also deleted.
Another economist, Fu Peng, also lost his WeChat account after saying that the local middle class is shrinking, sharing that the economic rescue measures would not be as they were in 2008.
The comments conflict with claims by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that the youths’ consumption would drive post-pandemic economic growth.
According to livestreamer Gongzi Shen, the government’s censorship of these comments is not because of how offensive they are, but rather because they fear the accuracy of these claims about the economy.
“They know that a lot of knowledgeable people have been saying these things, which are very pertinent, but even though they know that these opinions make a lot of sense… they sacrifice the private sector and the whole of society to cling onto supreme power,” Shen said.
“The attack on these economists and liberal intellectuals is also to some extent an attack on the economic technocrats [in the party and government],” he added.
Wang Jian, a current affairs commentator, also believes that censoring Fu and Gao only proves their points.
“What Gao Shanwen said will have made the Chinese Communist Party more angry, because he explained it very clearly and his evidence is solid,” Wang said. “China’s economy has been overestimated by three percentage points a year for the past three years, which is a slap in the face for the National Bureau of Statistics.”
“They’re angry not because he’s talking nonsense… but because nothing he said was nonsense,” he added.
Another commentator, Ma Ju, believes that the CCP continues to allow only good news about the economy.
“They believe that the economy will improve as long as everyone believes it’s getting better,” Ma told Radio Free Asia (RFA) Mandarin.
“They know they can’t make up any more lies, so what do they do? They get rid of the people who identified the problem,” he added. “They don’t allow them to speak or publish about it.”
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China’s economic spiral
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese youths are still struggling to find jobs despite the CCP’s attempts to bring “fiscal measures to boost the sluggish economy,” Voice of America (VoA) wrote.
The unemployment rate for youths between ages 16 and 24 has reportedly remained at above 17%, contradicting state media claims that the rate had improved since October.
“There is a backlog of youths who were supposed to be joining the labor force over the last two to three years, but they didn’t do very well in the job market,” he told VoA by phone.
“As a new cohort of youth graduating from college each year, that makes the job market very tough for the college graduates,” he added.
Chinese stock markets have also plunged in recent months, particularly in October when they failed to reach their desired numbers amid hopes for a fiscal stimulus package.
The CCP had announced measures to help boost employment opportunities for college graduates, such as campus recruitment activities and raising job placement rates. However, some believe that China has to improve working conditions and provide more protection for workers’ benefits, or the problem will continue to exist.
