BEIJING – Chinese microblogging site Weibo is asking some of its users not to post negative content about the economy, a move that underscores concerns about sputtering domestic growth.

The social media service, often compared with X, sent notices to users warning them to “avoid expressing pessimism about the economy”, according to a memo circulating online that one recipient confirmed to Bloomberg News.

One Weibo user who focuses on finance and has more than 76,000 followers said in a post on Dec 14 that bloggers were privately told to post less about the economy, and instead posted a light-hearted video about United States baseball.

Another Chinese-markets blogger, with more than 16,000 followers, posted a separate notice asking bloggers to “avoid crossing the red lines”, particularly around economic or financial topics.

Weibo representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

The guidance from one of China’s most popular social media sites comes as the country’s top leaders seek to restore confidence, including by pledging to strengthen fiscal growth.

In a Politburo meeting last week, top officials from the ruling Communist Party vowed to strengthen public opinion guidance on economic affairs.

Mixed economic data on Dec 15 showed that recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic remained slow, with weak consumer confidence and a lingering real estate crisis.

The Ministry of State Security said on Dec 15 that negative comments on the economy would endanger national security.

“Various cliches intended to undermine China’s economy have appeared consistently, in an attempt to use false narratives to construct a ‘discourse trap’ and ‘cognitive trap’ that China is in decline,” the ministry said in a post on its official WeChat account.

“This is an attempt to strategically contain and suppress China.”

Other Chinese agencies may have begun to pull back from overly negative commentary.

China International Capital analysts have been barred from sharing negative comments about the economy or markets in both public and private discussions, Bloomberg News has reported. Goldman Sachs Group analysts attracted a wave of criticism in July after publishing a bearish report on Chinese banks.

China has in recent years stepped up controls across its cyberspace, including requiring influential users to display their real names in public, as it clamps down on dissent and false information online.

Beijing-based Weibo operates in one of the world’s strictest censorship regimes. It is one of China’s go-to repositories for entertainment news and celebrity gossip, topics that are subject to regular scrutiny by Chinese regulators. BLOOMBERG