(Yicai Global) Aug. 27 -- As part of efforts to root out China’s “irrational fan” culture, the country’s cybersecurity regulator has moved to require celebrity agents to prevent minors from spending money on supporting the activities and buying the goods sponsored by their idols.

Websites and online platforms must clean up the illegal fundraising information published by fans and online gatherings of the underage are forbidden, the Cyberspace Administration of China said in a document issued on its official WeChat account today.

Fandoms formed in recent years demand members buy merchandise endorsed by their idols or even pay websites and platforms to move them higher up the rankings, so they can earn more money and land better advertising deals. These fans are becoming younger and younger.

The Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission began to address the issue of China’s “chaotic” celebrity fan culture in June, focusing on behaviors that led minors to raise money, spend a lot, rumormonger, launch personal attacks, and invade privacy.

Websites and platforms must step up their scrutiny of celebrities’ agents, fan clubs and social media fan pages, the CAC said. Fandoms will need to seek authorization or certification from agents, which in turn must supervise and maintain them on a daily basis, it added.

Marketing activities also must not encourage fans to buy celebrities’ work and merchandise, the CAC said.

Rankings of stars and bands must end, but songs, television series and movies can be ranked if the artists’ names are omitted, the CAC said. In addition, the charts must lower the weighting of attendance, likes and comments and raise that of professional evaluation indicators. They shall not have functions which allow fans to boost the works’ popularity or enable paid attendance.

Editor: Futura Costaglione