37-year-old male star Yu Menglong passed away on the 11th, with officials attributing it to “accidentally falling from a building after drinking,” and arresting internet users accused of spreading rumors. However, many netizens still find the incident suspicious and continue to follow closely. Under a series of official bans, China’s social media platform Weibo stated that over 100,000 pieces of unauthorized content have been cleared, with over a thousand accounts being silenced or closed, and commenting functions being suspended for more than 15,000 accounts that engaged in repeated malicious hype in the comments section.
On the evening of the 23rd, Weibo administrators issued a notice stating that after the police released a public safety report on Yu Menglong’s “falling from a building after drinking” incident, some users continued to maliciously hype in the comments section, spreading disrespectful comments about the deceased and even attacking individuals and government accounts, inciting online hostility and extreme emotions, and so on.
Weibo stated that they have cleared over 100,000 pieces of unauthorized content related to inciting negative emotions, taken a phased approach to silencing or closing over a thousand accounts, and suspended commenting functions for more than 15,000 accounts that engaged in malicious hype in the comments section.
Yu Menglong passed away in a fall from a building in Beijing in the early hours of the 11th. Despite the official determination of the cause of death as “falling from a building after drinking,” the details of the cause of death remain a mystery. Online rumors suggest that Yu Menglong was targeted because he resisted the unspoken rules of the entertainment industry. The circulated story indicated that the last gathering Yu Menglong attended involved directors, screenwriters, and other industry insiders, and the perpetrator involved, director Xin Qi, is rumored to be the illegitimate son of Cai Qi and a distant relative of Xi Jinping. Numerous related posts have been deleted or restricted from comments.
On September 11th, the Cyberspace Administration of China summoned the Xiaohongshu platform for rectification, citing the appearance of “promoting bad information about celebrities’ personal lives and trivial matters” on the platform’s trending list. On September 20th, the administration implemented equal penalties on mainstream platforms like Weibo and Kuaishou, criticizing them for “failing to fulfill the responsibility of managing information content,” leading to the trending lists being “filled with bad information,” and so on.
On the 21st, the Chaoyang Public Security Sub-Bureau in Beijing issued a “public safety report,” announcing the arrest of three women accused of “fabricating rumors,” and dealt with other related individuals.
On September 22nd, the Cyberspace Administration of China announced a two-month campaign to rectify the so-called “problem of maliciously inciting negative emotions.”
During this period, some figures in the entertainment industry who spoke up had their posts deleted and commenting restricted, and even faced personal threats.
On September 21st, well-known Chinese entertainment commentator Song Zude posted two consecutive posts on Weibo, criticizing the collective silence of the Chinese official media on the Yu Menglong incident. However, these two posts were deleted in just 5 minutes, and the account was also silenced.
In his posts, Song Zude bluntly said, “Many foreign media have been reporting on this continuously, but domestic media have remained silent, embarrassing themselves in front of the world. When a son is in trouble, why won’t you let his mother speak up? This is outrageous and intolerable.”
Chinese actor Li Tingzhe once called for the truth during a live stream and received threatening messages of being “watched.” Chinese actress Sun Lin, who spoke out for Yu Menglong, was threatened and injured by a flower pot outside her home.
Taiwanese actress Lin Caiti also expressed concern about the incident. In the early hours of the 24th, she retweeted a news video suggesting that Yu Menglong was abused, but her post was “deleted within 1 minute.” Lin Caiti angrily asked, “Why was my post deleted within 1 minute? If it was just an escape room experience, what are you afraid of?”
BBC reports that regarding the Yu Menglong case, Chinese netizens seem to be leaning towards a narrative that the privileged class is operating behind the scenes in a situation where information is almost completely opaque.