Why is China clamping down on eating influencers?

 

As any chef will tell you, we eat with our eyes - so for people who make a living eating on social media, the presentation of their food is key to their success. Korean influencer known as 'Muk Sna' or 'a.bite', has amassed fans from all over the world for the way she presents and eats beautifully arranged plates of food. And her more than six million followers on TikTok alone tune in almost daily to watch her munch and crunch her way through the enormous platters.
"I started posting to TikTok more than two and a half years ago," she says.
"And I've created and eaten 270 one-plate videos in the last year and a half."
Muk Sna' is one of a growing number of stars who straddle two huge internet trends called Mukbang and ASMR:

•    Mukbang originated in Korea and loosely translates as "eating broadcast"
•    Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a category of video aimed at creating noises and sounds that elicit a physical response
For some, the idea of watching and hearing someone eat piles of food on camera is not appealing.
But the trend, started about 10 years ago, has become extremely popular in Asia.
Now, though, the Chinese government is cracking down on the videos, which soon may be banned altogether in the country.
The 'Clean Plate' campaign
It all started with a comment by President Xi Jinping, who called on everyone to "fight against food waste".
Food shortages are a rising concern for China, with the continuing trade war with the United States and mass flooding hitting crop growth last month.
The 'Clean Plate' campaign" was launched after Mr Xi who also said that Covid-19 had "sounded the alarm" on food waste.
He added that China had to "maintain a sense of crisis about food security".
And the state-run media channels quickly sprung into action.
The news network CCTV made critical reports about mukbangers, drawing attention to those that consumed mountains of food while livestreaming.
And, shortly afterwards, the social-media companies took action.
Anyone searching for terms such as "eating show" or "eating livestream" is now being served with warning notices.

Users on popular app Kuaishou are being warned to "save food; eat properly" and on Douyin, the Chinese sister app to TikTok, a warning pops up saying: "Cherish food, refuse to waste, eat properly and have a healthy life."
Meanwhile, mukbang star Mini has fronted a promotional video on the state-run Guangming Daily, calling on people not to waste food.
In one of her ads, she says: "Reheated dishes can be super-tasty too."
But none of these warnings seems to be appearing on Chinese apps operating outside of China, such as TikTok.