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China launches campaign to keep killjoys off the internet

Pessimistic social media posts may now be targets of a fresh crackdown by the Chinese government.

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. Zhang Xuefeng, a famous online tutor known for his fiery rhetoric on education and social issues, sparked controversy earlier this month when he pledged to donate at least 100 million Chinese yuan ($14m; £10.4m) if Beijing decided to invade Taiwan. This month, the Cyberspace Administration said it would mete out "strict punishments" against social media apps Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou and Weibo for failing to rein in "negative" content, such as "sensationalising celebrities' personal updates" and other "trivial information".

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