2006 High-End Economic Forum Held In Chengdu (Photo : Getty Images)
For openly criticizing President Xi Jinping and his emphasis on Communist Party of China leadership, the Cybserspace Administration of China (CAC) silenced celebrity Chinese blogger Ren Zhiqiang.
The CAC ordered Sina and Tencent to close Ren Zhiqiang's Weibo accounts. In ordering the closure, CAC spokesperson Jiang Jun pointed out that "the Internet is not a lawless land and nobody can spread illegal information online," reported Global Times.
Ren, a wealth realtor who has 37 million followers on Sina Weibo, was silenced for spreading illegal information, according to Shanghai Daily. Jiang said that the blogger's posting of illegal information resulted in "vile influence."
Because of his outspokenness, Ren is known to his followers as a "cannon." On Feb. 18, he wrote on Weibo that the Chinese people would be forgotten if the media would just follow the Communist Party and do not represent people's interest. He made the comment just after the Chinese president visited state media outlets and emphasized the Party's leadership over the media operated by the Party.
Ren's blog was heavily criticized by state media which urged that the realtor, who quit as head of the Hua Yuan Property firm in 2014, be expelled from the Party.
Jiang added that celebrity microbloggers and bloggers like Ren, who are called "Big Vs" because of their large number of followers on social media platforms, must obey the law and be socially responsible. The CAC ordered Sina and Tencent to ensure that it would monitor and managed online content and information, and not allow people like Ren to open another account using a different name.
However, while some Chinese agreed with what CAC did to Ren, some find the closure of his blogs too harsh for saying his piece. It is not Ren's first encounter with the Party. In September 2015, he wrote that it is "ridiculous" for members of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China to be communist successors before communism has been achieved.
In 2014, it was the CCTV he attacked when he called it the dumbest pig on Earth, following a CCTV story that Vanke, the biggest residential real estate developer in China, owed the government a 4.4-billion-yuan land value increment tax.
