Is it OK to swear in videos? Not in China, apparently. Viral video sensation Papi Jiang, who raised nearly US$2 million in VC funding last month for her high-speed humor videos, has been ordered to clean up her act by the Chinese government…
…probably. Here’s where things get a little complicated.
Cursing crackdown?
Rumors began floating over the weekend that China’s China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television (SAPPRFT) had ordered a takedown of Papi Jiang’s videos. The problem, reportedly, was Papi Jiang’s use of curse words like “fuck” and “little whore” in some of her videos. On Monday morning those rumors were denied, both by Papi Jiang’s operational CEO Yang Ming and by one of the video series’ high-profile advertisers, and for a moment it seemed that she wasn’t in any trouble at all.
But on Monday afternoon, a reporter from state media outlet The People’s Daily published that the makers of the Papi Jiang videos really have been ordered by SAPPRFT to “reform,” and that that includes taking down at least some videos to remove the offending language. The People’s Daily article doesn’t feature any direct quotes from SAPPRFT officials, but it does cite SAPPRFT as the source of the information.
The People’s Daily is considered by many to be the mouthpiece of China’s government, so while it’s not impossible that reporter made a mistake, it seems very unlikely. On the other hand, as of this writing, Papi Jiang’s videos and social media channels still seem to be operating normally. Until SAPPRFT decides to make a direct public statement on this matter, we may not know for sure what, if anything, has transpired between regulators and Papi Jiang. But it seems highly likely that she has, at the very least, been ordered to make some changes in her language.
The Papi craze
One thing we can say for certain: Papi Jiang is ridiculously popular. Her Youku channel has over one million subscribers and has racked up nearly 100 million plays. And that’s just one platform – she’s available everywhere from WeChat to Weibo to Youtube (where she routinely gets tens of thousands of plays per video despite the fact that the service is blocked in China).
Papi – her real name is Jiang Yilei – became China’s first internet celebrity to get VC backing last month, and her investors are real players: ZhenFund, Lighthouse Capital, and Xingtu Capital. She now has an organization that runs her business operations, but her videos are self-written and self-produced.
At face value, her content seems pretty harmless. Her videos tend to take the form of humorous rants or conversations Jiang has with herself, poking fun at everyday situations like breakups or applying cosmetics. The video below, for example, is her take on the trials and travails of dieting. There are no English subtitles, but in typically farcical Papi Jiang form, it begins with a firm resolution to lose a few pounds and ends with ride to the emergency room and some chocolate-eating.
While her videos do occasionally feature foul language, it’s not exactly her hallmark – she’s more famous for the fast-paced voice – and it’s not as if swearing is illegal in China anyway. That makes her being singled out for punishment a bit odd, and some Chinese observers are already concluding that it may to slow and discourage the development of internet celebrities as a business model. It’s a reminder that in China, creating any kind of content online – even if it’s apolitical and innocuous – carries regulatory risk.
Exactly what SAPPRFT has done to Papi Jiang – if anything – isn’t entirely clear, but assuming the People’s Daily report is true, fans might expect to see their favorite swift-tongued satirist speaking a bit more politely in future videos.
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