On June 10, the Cyberspace Administration of China announced that it guided the Beijing Cyberspace Administration to summon the person in charge of Sina Weibo. Regarding Weibo’s disruption of online communication order in the Jiang incident and the spread of illegal and non-compliant information, it ordered immediate rectification, suspended updates to the Weibo Hot Search list for one week, suspended updates to the Trending Topics list for one week, and seriously handled those responsible. The period runs from 15:00 on June 10 to 15:00 on June 17. At the same time, it required the Beijing Cyberspace Administration to impose a fine on Sina Weibo according to law with strict penalties.
What Is This Incident About
One day in April, a Weibo account named “Huahua Donghuahua” posted directly accusing Zhang Dayi, warning her “if you come after my husband again I won’t be polite.” This “Huahua Donghuahua” was later confirmed to be the wife of Jiang Fan, president of Tmall.
As soon as it broke, it shot straight to Weibo’s Hot Search list. Later, Jiang Fan, president of Tmall, was also investigated and punished. But the weird part is the Weibo platform itself: Weibo began limiting reach and muting accounts, and almost all posts and threads about this matter were deleted clean.
What Is the Relationship Between Weibo and Tmall
Everyone knows Tmall — it’s Alibaba’s, and Alibaba is a shareholder of Weibo. In 2016, Alibaba increased its stake in Sina Weibo by $135 million, raising its holding to 31.5%.
In other words, Tmall and Weibo are two children of the same father. It’s understandable that a brother would help cover up a brother’s scandal, but the methods were a bit too crude — even the Cyberspace Administration couldn’t stand it.
Reactions Online
Xinhua News Agency’s WeChat official account published “Disrupting Online Communication Order! Just Now, Weibo Hot Search Was Suspended,” which instantly hit 100,000+ reads, with one-sided comments.
Well-known self-media figure Wang Guanxiong said in his Moments: “The fact that Alibaba’s crown prince Jiang Fan had an affair and manipulated Weibo comment control alarmed the wxb (Cyberspace Administration). That’s the supreme boss of all Chinese internet companies, understand? Generally penalty notices are vague, but naming names this time is rare — it shows the authorities couldn’t stand it. Controlling public opinion is a matter of state power! How dare a private enterprise do that? This is the crime of overreach.”
Another friend who has long tracked Alibaba commented: “Alibaba really lost big this time because of the ‘Jiang Fan incident,’ even dragging Weibo down with it. Think about whether it was worth it! Control public opinion? Don’t be naive!”