China’s local governments shut down social media accounts as budgets shrink

Once seen as key propaganda tools, agency apps and websites disappear as funding cuts, staff shortages and internet trolls make maintenance a ‘burden’

Beijing’s cyber watchdog has ordered local authorities to streamline operations as ‘zombie’ accounts and white elephant projects proliferate

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Many local government agencies in China have had to cut contract workers, who are typically responsible for updating social media accounts.
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Published: 6:00am, 25 May 2024Updated: 3:12pm, 25 May 2024

Once a key tool in China’s campaign to spread its message to the public, government-run social media accounts are being shut down amid a squeeze on public finances.

The online platforms of government agencies at all levels are being consolidated, reversing more than a decade of feverish development that led to many redundant apps and sites.

Local officials and analysts said the trend showed local governments must scale back development and merge functions as a result of institutional reform, shrinking funds, and rising fatigue among the low-level cadres tasked with maintaining the platforms.

Dozens of cities in the provinces of Guangdong, Sichuan, Yunnan, Hunan, Shaanxi, Shandong and Jiangsu, as well as Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, have announced plans so far this year to cut back on government department websites, social media accounts and smartphone applications, research by the Post shows.

One of the latest to do so is Longgang district in the southern megacity of Shenzhen. In the first week of May, it announced that web services for its land supervision and state-owned assets bureaus would be shut down, as both bodies had been merged into other agencies.

That same week, Guangxi shut down the website and social media accounts of its sugar industry development office. This has been absorbed into the Guangxi Development and Reform Commission, the region’s top economic planning agency.