Chinese social media star jailed for 'insulting' national anthem under new law

A Chinese social media star has been jailed for 5 days for "insulting the national anthem" in the most high profile case under a new law. 

Yang Kaili, 20, who has more than 45 million followers, was arrested after she appeared in a live-streamed video on Oct 7 singing a snippet of the national anthem “March of the Volunteers" in her signature cutesy voice and waving her arms like a conducter. 

In a statement, Shanghai police said: “All citizens and organisations should respect the national anthem, and protect its integrity.”

Miss Yang’s troubles reflect increased censorship and a growing crackdown on dissent in China under the leadership of Xi Jinping, the Chinese president and a broader campaign to shore up national pride and trust in the ruling Communist Party. 

Mr Xi has demanded patriotism from citizens both online and offline, and all domestic and foreign content – news, books, films – continue to be subject to the government’s heavy-handed censors.

In 2017 the government introduced a law that made it a criminal offence to “disrespect” the national anthem – modifying lyrics, distorting the music, or misrepresenting it in any way can mean being thrown in jail for up to 15 days. 

Beijing was reportedly even considering extending the maximum sentence to three years. Similar legislation is expected to be soon implemented in special administrativeregions Hong Kong and Macau after people booed the Chinese anthem at sports matches, and has raised fears that it may be used as a tool of political repression.

 Miss Yang, who also goes by Li Ge online, has risen in the past year to “red-hot online fame,” a popular term for China’s social media stars. 

After rapidly gaining fans with livestreams of her singing, she signed a video site contract rumoured to be worth 50 million yuan (£5.5 million), released a debut record over the summer, and performed on national television.

Her star has fallen fast, however in the wake of her offence, with video streaming sites blocking and deleting her previous videos, despite multiple online apologies to her millions of fans. 

Miss Yang also promised to stop broadcasting online, to undergo patriotic education, and to reflect deeply on her misguided actions.

“My actions have deeply hurt everyone’s feelings. Sorry – so sorry – to my homeland, sorry to my fans, sorry to netizens, sorry to the online platforms,” she said. “I will deeply reflect, and fully accept ideological, political and patriotic education, and study hard on the National Anthem law and relevant regulations."

China’s government censors have been working overtime as the internet – and in particular, live-streaming social media platforms – have boomed in recent years.

China’s live-streaming market, which has created overnight celebrity millionaires, is estimated to generate $4.4 billion (£3.4 billion) in revenues this year, according to a report by Deloitte.

To help regulate the internet and scrub it clean of “vulgar” material, China passed a separate cybersecurity internet law that went into effect last year, which severely restricts online content.

Since then, a number of celebrity gossip social media accounts have been shut down, some sites were ordered to stop live-streaming services, and thousands of internet celebrities have been banned for life from broadcasting online.

Authorities even launched an investigation into some of China’s most popular internet platforms, including WeChat, over concerns their platforms were spreading inappropriate content that endangered national security and social order.

Amazon-backed Twitch, the world’s most popular service for live-streaming video games, was also recently been banned in China, after it became the third most popular app on Apple’s China store. 

China’s government censors have been working overtime as the internet – and in particular, live-streaming social media platforms – have boomed in recent years. China’s live-streaming market, which has created overnight celebrity millionaires, is estimated to generate $4.4 billion (£3.4 billion) in revenues this year, according to a report by Deloitte, a consultancy.

To help regulate the internet and scrub it clean of “vulgar” material, China passed a separate cybersecurity internet law that went into effect last year, which severely restricts online content.

Since then, a number of celebrity gossip social media accounts have been shut down, some sites were ordered to stop live-streaming services, and thousands of internet celebrities were banned for life from broadcasting online.

Authorities even launched an investigation into some of China’s most popular internet platforms, including WeChat, over concerns their platforms were spreading inappropriate content that endangered national security and social order.

Amazon-backed Twitch, the world’s most popular service for live streaming video games, was also recently been banned in China, after it became the third most popular app on Apple’s China store.