Chinese social media users reported on Friday that they had been warned against posting "pessimistic" views about the economy, in a sign of growing political sensitivity as China struggles to boost growth.
China's economy is battling headwinds on multiple fronts and Beijing's leadership said this month its recovery was confronting "difficulties and challenges".
Several people told AFP that social media platform Weibo had sent them messages this week saying they "must pay attention to the intensity of their speech and must not publish any speech that is pessimistic about the economy".
A Chinese economist, who owns a popular Weibo account with more than 9 million followers, told AFP he had "received this sort of reminder twice in recent days", although he said he held optimistic views about China's prospects.
Financial Times China columnist Jeff Li posted a screenshot of similar warnings to his X account on Thursday.
On Friday, China's Ministry of State Security accused "some people with ulterior motives" of using "maliciously fabricated false narratives" to hurt the Chinese economy.
"Their real purpose is to disrupt market expectations and block the positive momentum of our country's economy," it said in an official social media post.
China's domestic media is state-controlled and widespread censorship of social media is often used to suppress negative stories or critical coverage.
Regulators have previously urged investors to avoid reading foreign news reports about China, while analysts and economists have been suspended from social media for airing pessimistic views.
Weibo banned the account of influential business journalist Wu Xiaobo in June after he compared China's economic problems to the Great Depression.
The national statistics bureau has not released a youth unemployment rate since June, when joblessness among 16- to 24-year-olds hit a record 21.3 percent.
Weibo did not respond immediately to AFP's request for comment.
Some Weibo commenters on Friday expressed scepticism and outrage over the warnings on Friday.
Writer Kong Ergou said on his verified personal page: "Can an economy or an industry really be spoken into decline... is there any record in human history where something really declined from being criticised?"
