Jimin's fan accounts banned in China for 'illegal' funds

The Chinese social media 'Weibo' banned a fan club of popular South Korean K-pop band 'BTS' from posting for 60 days, claiming that the club had raised funds illegally, days after photographs of a customised airplane funded by the club went viral on social media.

"'Weibo' firmly opposes such irrational star-chasing behaviour and will deal with it seriously," read the statement of 'Weibo'.

The fan club account, which has around 1.1 million followers on 'Weibo', was focused on Jimin and his birthday on October 13. The fans had begun raising money in April to prepare for his birthday celebrations, according to the state-owned media 'Global Times', with over 1 million yuan (150,000 dollars) raised in the first three minutes of the fundraising activity and 2.3 million yuan (360,000 dollars) in the first hour. The club also wanted to run advertisements celebrating Jimin's birthday in newspapers, like the 'New York Times'.

The restrictions imposed on the fan account came as Beijing attempts to cleanse the entertainment industry and clamp down on 'irrational behaviour' exhibited by fans. According to 'South Morning China Post', China's state-owned news agency 'Xinhua' said that the cyberspace watchdog removed 150,000 examples of 'harmful' online content and punished more than 4,000 fan-club-related accounts. The banned fan accounts focused on other K-Pop bands, including 'Blackpink', 'EXO' and 'NCT'.