Ren Zeping, a high-profile independent economist and former researcher at the Development Research Centre of the State Council, has seen his WeChat official account "Zeping Macro" and his WeChat video account restricted. Since October 24, the accounts could no longer be retrieved via search and would not accept new subscribers. A system message prompted by attempts to follow the accounts stated, "This account is blocked from new followers over rule violations." Support staff described the status as "abnormal" but stated the specific cause remained "unknown."
The restrictions may have been sparked by Ren's video on October 23, in which he argued that A-shares were at a bottom and issued a call to "buy the dip" while analyzing domestic and cross-border macro policies. Wang Zhibin, a Shanghai lawyer, suggested that because Ren used WeChat to live-stream on A-share markets and sell courses, the platform took the toughest action among social media sites.
Investor backlash has been reported following Ren's advice. A screenshot from one of Ren's WeChat VIP groups showed an investor using the handle "Yanwang" claiming he trusted Ren's forecast that the tech stock rally would continue, stating "every dip of the market is a chance to buy." By July, "Yanwang" claimed his losses topped 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) and stated "his life was ruined." This occurred as the tech-heavy ChiNext Index in Shenzhen suffered a deep sell-off, shedding more than 43 per cent from its June peak by Friday's closing bell.
Another investor told The Paper that he purchased Ren's annual courses for 2,980 yuan (US$446.80) and suffered losses of more than 30 per cent by October. Currently, no courses are listed for sale on Ren's WeChat official account.
The move comes as new regulations governing the online marketing of financial products took effect on September 30. Released by eight ministries, including the People's Bank of China and the Cyberspace Administration of China, the rules stipulate that only financial institutions and third-party internet platforms may carry out online marketing for financial products. All other entities and individuals are barred from such activities, "including in any disguised form."






