In this episode, Simone and Malcolm Collins dive deep into China’s sweeping crackdown on social media, exploring how the Chinese government is targeting not just political dissent, but also “sad people,” conspicuous consumption, LGBTQ+ communities, and even influencers who promote minimalism or criticize the economy. We discuss the cultural, economic, and political motivations behind these policies, compare them to similar trends in other countries, and debate the long-term consequences for China and the world. From the disappearance of China’s “Kim Kardashian” to the fate of the “lying flat” movement, this conversation is packed with surprising stories, sharp analysis, and global context.

Simone Collins: [00:00:00] Hello Malcolm. I’m excited to be with you today because we are going to talk about China’s crackdown and it’s not exactly what you would expect.

It’s a crackdown on sad

Malcolm Collins: people. Sad

Simone Collins: people

Malcolm Collins: go to jail,

Simone Collins: directly to jail, sad people. It’s also a crackdown on, on Crazy Rich Asians, which are my favorite.

Malcolm Collins: So yes, yes. Sad people. Rich people. They’re basically like live. The middle class like that is the aspiration we want on the internet. Yeah. You will be moderates.

Well, but not just that. ‘cause we’re also gonna go on, you know, them disappearing gay people, them disappearing trans people. Literally everything that they are shoving down the west right now. Like everything that they are filling. TikTok whiz, their bots are hammering. YouTube whiz. Probably

Simone Collins: more apparently.

Oh yeah. Yeah.

Malcolm Collins: Yeah, but this, this is, oh, no, no. YouTube still very badly affected by Chinese bots. This is what every, everything that, that, you know, we keep saying this is what they’re hitting [00:01:00] us with within their own country. It’s controlled their own citizens can’t even voluntarily produce this kind of content.

And

Simone Collins: most people are familiar with this, with TikTok. How, like in the United States, TikTok is just sort of this, this, this. S toilet vortex of debauchery and distraction. And in, in China it’s like educational content.

Malcolm Collins: Yeah. But the way that Laowai talked about this was he said it’s, it’s a form of informational, asymmetric warfare, you know?

Mm-hmm. With their own country. All of this stuff is banned and I think the question that we’re gonna be coming to throughout this episode is. Is this actually bad, like the way that China is implementing this? Yeah. I know that we have like this idea around free speech maxing in the United States but when other powers are actively and provably using these platforms to, so social discord was in our country.

You know, do we need to address this? Or is [00:02:00] there benefit in addressing it the way that, that China’s addressing it? And what are the downsides to addressing it the way that China’s addressing it? Yeah. So get started, Simone.

Simone Collins: Yeah. So first off, what really got me and what I, where I first heard about this was the conspicuous consumption takedown where all of a sudden these really treasured.

Famous Chinese people. Just like not known to Americans had their accounts taken down. So notable people were weighing Hong Queing. Yes, I butchered that. 2.3 million

Malcolm Collins: followers.

Simone Collins: Yeah, this guy was known for being China’s Kim Kardashian. I’m setting you. A picture of him looking fabulous in his outfits.

I, I just, I love his look. I’m, I’m kind of devastated that he’s been taken down because this means that I can’t easily consume

Malcolm Collins: his content anymore. Matt, those outfits look ridiculous. He looks

Simone Collins: like he’s out of some crazy futuristic anime. He, his whole thing, aside from being China’s Kim Kardashian. Was that he [00:03:00] became really famous for his claims of never leaving home with less than 1.4 million worth of clothing and jewelry, as well as owning seven high value properties reportedly worth over 110 million US dollars.

They were all located within this exclusive Beijing compound. He, he is, is really known for the lavish outfits. Great examples that I sent to you. Yeah. Valuable jewelry, frequent visits to hot couture. Jewelry dealers accompanied by his security team, which makes sense. ‘ cause if you don’t leave the H it’s like you’re famous for not leaving the house in that amount of money.

Malcolm Collins: screwed. Yeah. You’re, you’re, you’re asking for. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think what a lot of people don’t realize is, is you build this up, building up. Fame like that, you know, 2.3 million followers. Like, I’d be devastated if our followers just got wiped one day. Right? Like, this is something you worked for years building up.

Well, and

Simone Collins: this is, he’s someone who like, literally, I mean this, this wasn’t how he got his wealth. His wealth was from a family business in coal mining, mining that was later invested into jdi jewelry, [00:04:00] which of course is why he. Has a lot of Jdi jewelry. And he’s also launched his own luxury boutique.

But he’s been very explicit about like, no, I wanna be famous. I want to be an influencer. And China just

Malcolm Collins: pulled the rug away. There’s other people, by the way, I dunno if you saw this one. They were lady ab, sister abalone? No, no. The one who got disappeared for giving money to poor people.

Simone Collins: I dunno, this one.

Malcolm Collins: Yeah. So there was a guy who was sort of doing like what Mr. Beast was doing, but in China. Oh. Where he would you know, ask poor people who had recently bought groceries. You know, how much did you spend on that? And then he’d pay them back for it and get sort of their life story. And he had built up I think it was millions of followers.

And and he was taking,

Simone Collins: he was, he’s redistributing wealth though. This is part of the, but,

Malcolm Collins: but Xi Jinping declared. That there are no poor people in China. So Oh no, he’s, and he was very pro to state, and the thing that they finally disappeared him over and I mean, disappeared. They didn’t just take him off social [00:05:00] media.

You now can’t search his name or anything like that. Right. He’s likely in a detainment facility somewhere. Oh, no. He had somebody come on his channel during a live stream and ask him if he shot Xi Jinping was a dictator. And he immediately cut the video. He then went on a rant about how crazy this guy was, and the government should look him up and arrest him.

He joined the line to the public. Exactly. Disappears the next day. Oh.

Speaker: 说什么我想说你认为习他是一个独裁者吗?我操,这种人严重违反直播规范啊,这种人严重违反直播规范,我第一时间给他挂掉。这种人疯了吧,这种人。这种人是不是疯了?我的天呐,这种人太可怕了这种人。这种人肯定有人找他的,这种人肯定有人找他。有人找他,这种人疯掉了这种人。你怎么能违反直播规范呢?[00:06:00] 我的天呐,我第一时间给他挂掉了啊,第一时间给他挂掉了。这种人,你自己承担自己的法律后果。我的天哪,这种人太可怕了,这种人。

Malcolm Collins: This didn’t just happen to him. This happened to another guy who disappeared. This other guy had like, I think half a million followers and he was bantering with some kid, you know, like a, an actual child, right? Like they were doing like video game banter.

And at one point he’s like, who do you think you are? And the kid’s like, well, my dad will beat you up. And then the guy was like, who’s your dad? And the kid said, Xi Jinping. And then the guy just like stops talking and like gets this like scared look at the camera. The next day he disappears as well.

His dad was obviously not Xi Jinping, he made a joke. But you can’t make a joke about Xi Jinping and the kid, one does not joke. Kidden didn’t realize that. Oh boy. And so, you know, you’re, you’re, you are, the level of these people aren’t just disappearing from the internet, but they’re often [00:07:00] actually disappearing and unsearchable after this happens.

Simone Collins: That is terrifying,

Malcolm Collins: but continue.

Simone Collins: Yeah. I’m, I, yeah, I was just, I was thinking in this case about just these, these conspicuous consumptions. Were you think about the

Malcolm Collins: Apple guy, the guy who now they’re putting his face on Apple phones across stores around the world? No. Okay. Well, we’ll get to that later because this is another instance where I’m, no,

Simone Collins: I’m sad about Sister Abalone who help me, sister abalone.

She’s, she’s she’s known for, she’s actually an older woman, so she was really, I was like, oh, this is so cool. Like an influential, like fashionable old woman. She had over 2 million followers on, on Doyen, and, and she had this lavish Macau is. State that had private gardens and courtyards and a golf course, and she wore lots of jade jewelry and she would document her her lifestyle, eating really expensive food, hence sister abalone.

There’s also Mr. Bo who was all about like the fancy clothes and he a lot of dogs in his videos and he w you know, wear his [00:08:00] dogs in fancy purses. And this is, it’s so interesting to me. Because in the, the United States and probably other places like Western countries, this like almost fetishization of crazy rich Asians who just have insane conspicuous consumption is mm-hmm.

So high. And even some of the new, most famous, just not...