A social media influencer’s death, which occurred as she was participating in an intensive weight loss boot camp in northwestern China, has sparked calls for regulation in the influencer industry.
The 21-year-old, known online as Cuihua, was attempting to inspire her followers by showing them she could lose more than half her body weight, reports CNN. However, her shocking death has resulted in Chinese state media releasing warnings over the danger of weight loss camps, as well as renewed alarm regarding the pressure women feel to meet societal beauty standards.
Concerns are also growing over the influencer industry as a whole, with Cuihua’s death happening weeks after another incident in which a young Chinese man died following a live-stream of him binge-drinking alcohol.
Cuihua had been posting on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, to keep her followers updated on her weight-loss journey. She was reportedly attempting to encourage her followers in their own fights against obesity, said Chinese state media outlets.
Recently, she’d posted footage of herself undergoing intense exercises, announcing that she had been weighing in at 156 kilograms (344 pounds) and was attempting to burn off 100 kilograms (220 pounds).
According to China National Radio, Cuihua had attended multiple weight-loss camps in various cities, and was able to lose more than 27 kilograms (60 pounds) in the two months before her death.
Local authorities reported they are now investigating her death, and the possibility that the camp was using excessive or improper training.
“Weight loss boot camps are growing savagely, with a lot of false health and advertising complaints,” said the state-owned news agency China News Services. “It is common for trainees to get injured during the unregulated training process.”
Because of concern over the effect influencers can have, China’s National Video and Television Administration and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism have recently moved to restrict “31 misbehaviors by livestreamers.”
After this most recent death, a popular comment surfaced on the Twitter-like website Weibo, calling Cuihua “another innocent life scourged by marketing and influencer culture.”
