When the BLACKPINK star Lisa performed at a cabaret in Paris famous for its risqué dance routines, China's biggest social media platform deleted her account. But the two Chinese actresses who were only in the audience with her got punished more: Weibo muted them both, and state TV pulled their videos and photos for airing. Lisa, who was born in Buriram, in northeastern Thailand, is considered a national treasure by Thai officials. A Thai government spokesperson once praised her as a role model for her "love of homeland." In September 2023, she performed three times at the Crazy Horse, a cabaret on the Champs-Élysées where the dancers barely wear anything. She was the first Asian artist to perform there. About a month later, her account on Weibo, which had 8 million followers, announced that it "can no longer be viewed" because people had reported it for breaking the law. That night, two Chinese actresses got a message, too. Angelababy, a Hong Kong-born star with more than 100 million followers on Weibo, and Zhang Jiani, an actress with 11 million followers, both saw this message: "For violating relevant laws and regulations, this user is currently muted." They were “caught” because Lisa's fan club had publicly thanked them for going to the show. A CCTV channel had already deleted a holiday video featuring Angelababy; another had stopped using photos of Zhang to promote her own new series. Lisa lost just one account. Her 98 million or so Instagram followers were unaffected, because Instagram has long been blocked in China. A Thai native trained by a Korean label and performing in France was mostly out of reach. The two Chinese stars in the audience were not. Chinese social media users noted the inconsistency with the case of K-pop singer Seungri, who was jailed in Korea for procuring providers of paid intimacy, and still had a Weibo account. Losing Weibo didn't cost Lisa her following in China, either. Eight months later, she filmed her next video on the streets of Bangkok's Chinatown. The prime minister of Thailand thanked her; the tourism ministry credited Chinese tourists following the video for some of the increase in visitors that week. Being cut off from Weibo is a problem only if you rely on Weibo for your livelihood. Lisa doesn't. Angelababy's and Zhang Jiani’s did. - @samuelszuchan