(ZENIT News / Beijing, 02.17.2026).- As China celebrates its most important annual commemoration, the government is moving to ensure that the digital conversation surrounding it remains tightly choreographed. On February 13, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country’s top internet regulator, announced a month-long campaign to purge what it considers harmful or destabilizing online content during the Lunar New Year holiday.
The timing is deliberate. The Lunar New Year, which begins on February 17 and includes a nine-day public holiday, is traditionally a season of family reunions. It is also, for many young Chinese adults, a period marked by persistent questioning from relatives about marriage and childbearing. That ritualized interrogation — widely depicted in films, fiction and opinion pieces — has in recent years become a recurring subject of online satire and frustration.
Beijing now appears intent on managing not only the demographic challenge itself but also the digital narrative around it.
In its statement, the CAC identified as a priority target any content that “incites gender antagonism” or amplifies what it termed “fear of marriage” and “anxiety about childbirth.” Such expressions, the regulator said, maliciously inflame negative emotions and should be removed by platforms. The directive reflects the government’s broader concern over declining birthrates in a rapidly aging society, where many young people are postponing or forgoing marriage and parenthood altogether.
China’s demographic trajectory has become a central policy anxiety. After decades of population control measures — most famously the one-child policy — authorities have pivoted toward encouraging larger families. Yet economic pressures, high housing costs, demanding work cultures and shifting social expectations have dampened enthusiasm for early marriage and childrearing. Online discussions often give voice to these concerns, framing them as rational responses to structural realities. The CAC’s latest campaign suggests that such discourse, if perceived as discouraging family formation, will now face heightened scrutiny.
The regulator described its objective as fostering a “festive, peaceful and positive” online atmosphere for the New Year. To achieve this, it has instructed major social media companies to create special task forces, reinforce staffing levels and intensify content inspections, particularly during the holiday period when online traffic surges.
Platforms found hosting unacceptable material risk investigation and sanctions, although the CAC did not specify what penalties would apply in this round of enforcement. The administration already holds extensive authority over digital operators, requiring companies to proactively moderate user content and comply with state guidelines.
Beyond demographic themes, the crackdown spans a broad array of categories. The CAC warned against what it labeled “digital garbage,” a catch-all term that typically includes sensationalist, misleading or low-value content designed primarily to generate clicks. Of particular concern is mass-produced artificial intelligence content that dramatizes family conflicts — such as parental favoritism, disputes between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law, or sibling rivalries — to drive engagement. AI-generated material deemed illogical, vacuous or devoid of meaningful information will also fall under scrutiny.
The regulator reiterated that ostentatious displays of wealth, vulgar or violent videos, and suggestive imagery or text would not be tolerated. In recent years, authorities have repeatedly targeted online influencers who flaunt luxury lifestyles, arguing that such content distorts social values.
This is not an isolated intervention. In September 2025, the CAC announced action against ByteDance’s news app Jinri Toutiao and Alibaba’s browser company UCWeb for allegedly disseminating harmful material, just one day after unveiling a separate two-month social media campaign. That same month, it declared penalties against three major digital platforms — the microblogging service Weibo, the short-video app Kuaishou and the lifestyle-sharing platform Xiaohongshu — accusing them of neglecting content management responsibilities. Specific sanctions were not publicly detailed.
The pattern reveals a regulatory philosophy that views online discourse not merely as a commercial or social space, but as an arena of governance. In China’s system, private technology firms function as front-line censors, tasked with translating broad political directives into algorithmic and human moderation practices. The CAC operates as both standard-setter and enforcer, evaluating compliance and intervening when it deems necessary.
By including “fear of marriage” and “childbirth anxiety” among prohibited themes, the latest campaign highlights how demographic policy has migrated into the realm of content control. The state’s ambition to raise birthrates is no longer confined to subsidies, tax incentives or adjustments to family planning rules; it now extends to shaping the emotional tone of online discussion during the country’s most symbolically charged holiday.
The Lunar New Year has long served as a barometer of social mood. This year, the government appears determined that the mood — at least in digital form — align with its vision of optimism, harmony and family continuity.
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