Shanghai censors social media posts talking down housing market
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A residential complex development under construction in Shanghai in July. China is escalating a push to control the narrative around the moribund property market.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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SHANGHAI – The Shanghai authorities are censoring social media posts that express a pessimistic outlook on the housing market, underscoring the lengths regulators in the financial hub are taking to stem the deepening property crisis
In less than three weeks, social media platforms Xiaohongshu and Bilibili removed more than 40,000 posts under a “special campaign” to regulate online real estate content, the Shanghai branch of the Cyberspace Administration of China said in a statement late on Dec 3.
Violations of online regulations include making distorted interpretations of housing policies, publishing “fake” low-priced homes available for sale and creating panic over the real estate market, according to the statement.
The administration said it would step up efforts to crack down on online “chaos” in the sector and better regulate the dissemination of real estate information.
China is escalating a push to control the narrative around the moribund property market, which has been mired in a slump for more than four years with no sign of abating.
Social media has become an important venue for that effort as Chinese President Xi Jinping last week stressed the importance of cyberspace governance, calling for sustained efforts to cultivate a “clean, healthy and sound” online environment.
Two of China’s major private data agencies withheld monthly home sales figures at the government’s behest, stoking transparency concerns in a critical sector of the world’s second-largest economy, people familiar with the matter said earlier this week.
China Real Estate Information and China Index Academy were told by China’s housing regulator to suspend publicly disclosing the combined sales of the nation’s 100 largest developers until further notice.
The two social media platforms have also dealt with more than 70,000 real estate-related accounts that violated regulations.
Censorship is rife in China, where the authorities strictly vet internet content and block many foreign news websites. In the past, the cyberspace administration has curbed online chatter about issues ranging from the coronavirus pandemic to Mr Xi’s confirmation as president. BLOOMBERG
