China bans financial writer from Weibo

China banned a prominent finance writer and two of his peers from social media platform Weibo for commenting about the country’s stock market and unemployment rate, according to a Bloomberg News story.

Bloomberg News reports, “Wu Xiaobo and two other writers who weren’t fully named ‘attacked and undermined’ Chinese policy and spread ‘negative and harmful information,’ according to a statement by Sina Corp.’s Weibo on Monday.

“Wu has 4.7 million followers on the Twitter-like social media platform, making him one of China’s most influential writers about finance. He regularly writes for Caixin Global and has published bestselling books on Tencent Holdings Ltd. and China’s economic transformation. His recent posts have been deleted, making it unclear what triggered the ban.

“The suspensions are likely to increase concern among foreign investors about access to independent information on Chinese companies and the economy at a time when the investing outlook is deteriorating.”

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