‘Winter has come’: Chinese social media stunned as nearly 10,000 accounts shut down, by Zhuang Pinghui.

Stunned Chinese internet users have reacted in anger after censors deleted nearly 10,000 social media accounts in three weeks in a fresh crackdown set to become a “new norm”. …

The 9,800 accounts shut down so far in the latest round include those belonging to a popular talk show celebrity, an entertainment blogger who shared film footage, online influencers commenting on social issues and bloggers writing extensively on ethnicity. …

The administration said the deleted accounts – some of which also posted on search engine Baidu and news aggregators like Toutiao and Sohu – “trampled on the dignity of laws and regulations and damaged the ecology of online public opinion”.

“Some have been spreading harmful political information, maliciously tampering with the history of the Communist Party and smearing the reputation of heroes and China,” it said.

“Some challenged the moral bottom line of society and damaged the healthy growth of the majority of youngsters by spreading vulgar pornography and violating good social customs.”

hat-tip Stephen Neil