Wang Xiaofei, Zhang Lan face social media ban for lying about Barbie Hsu

While fans and family of Barbie Hsu continue mourning the star’s untimely and tragic passing, her ex-husband and his mother, Wang Xiaofei and Zhang Lan, have been banned on Chinese social media for defaming Barbie Hsu even after her death. This time round, it involves Dee Hsu as well, who came with proof to counter the false claims the two had made regarding Barbie.

All images in this gallery are from Weibo unless otherwise stated.

Wang Xiaofei is a Chinese hotelier well known in Chinese entertainment circles as Barbie Hsu's ex-husband. He is also a Chinese social media influencer who routinely holds livestreams, some of which he has used to make accusations against Barbie Hsu, according to The Straits Times.

Also known as Wang Xiaofei’s mother, Zhang Lan is a businesswoman turned social media influencer since 2020, reports the National Business Daily. Baidu reports that she is also considered one of the topmost influential businesswomen in China, having been consistently placed on ranking lists for business-related achievements since 2006.

QQ News reports that both Zhang Lan and Wang Xiaofei have been permanently banned on the Chinese social media platform ‘Douyin’, also known as the Chinese version of TikTok. The ban not only applied to Wang Xiaofei and Zhang Lan’s accounts, but also to an influencer, known as Xiao Jian, who is alleged to be Zhang Lan’s godson.

Continuing on from QQ News, there were three reasons given for the ban on Wang Xiaofei and Zhang Lan’s Douyin accounts, that they were banned for “violating public order and morality”, “hurting public sentiment”, and “disrespecting the deceased”, Barbie Hsu, “and their family”, which involves the Hsu family and DJ Koo, Barbie Hsu’s widower.

AsiaOne reports more behind the ban on Douyin, that it started from rumours started by Xiao Jian, who claimed that Wang Xiaofei had paid for a private jet to fly the remains of Barbie Hsu back to Taiwan from Japan during a livestream on Douyin.

The video record of the Xiao Jian’s livestream was also liked by Zhang Lan, and this gave rise to rumours as the action of a ‘like’ served as a form of public endorsement from Zhang Lan regarding the claims, given that ‘likes’ were also viewable by members of the public on Douyin.

The rumours started by Xiao Jian got so big that it prompted Dee Hsu to personally provide proof to counter the claims. The Star reports that through her manager, Dee Hsu managed to provide proof that it was her family and her husband who had arranged for and paid for everything regarding Barbie Hsu’s remains.

According to the China Times, netizens have gone further to sleuth out the relationship between Xiao Jian and Zhang Lan, and have uncovered that he was allegedly Zhang Lan’s godson, especially in one video where he had explicitly claimed so, which added more fuel to the fire surrounding the rumours.

Despite the fact that netizens have discovered online evidence that Xiao Jian and Zhang Lan are in a relationship and have been seen together on multiple occasions, Zhang Lan has denied their relationship in an interview with Phoenix Finance, denying that he is her godson and denying that the two have any relationship, despite the evidence.

What was more embarrassing for Zhang Lan, Wang Xiaofei, and Xiao Jian was that AsiaOne reported that the airline company, VistaJet, validated Dee Hsu's testimony with transactional proof, demonstrating that Xiao Jian's statements were completely untrue.

The Global Times also reports that in response to the ban from Douyin, another major Chinese social media platform, Sina Weibo, the equivalent of Twitter in China, also suspended Zhang Lan’s Weibo account from livestreaming, following Douyin’s example.

The ban was interpreted by many, according to AsiaOne, to have been a fulfilment of one of Barbie Hsu’s wishes prior to her death.

Earlier in May, the starlet made a last post on Weibo, calling for the platform to take action regarding Zhang Lan specifically for spreading untruths about her on Douyin. No action was taken then, despite the starlet’s plea.

This brings us back to previous incidents where many are reminded that this posthumous smear on Barbie Hsu’s name was not the first incident where she had been defamed, as The Straits Times reports that Barbie Hsu had been defamed by Wang Xiaofei and Zhang Lan on multiple counts since 2022, on platforms including Weibo and Douyin.

The defamation of Barbie Hsu’s character, which also was targeted at Dee Hsu and DJ Koo by Wang Xiaofei and Zhang Lan, was unbearable for the starlet that she even filed a lawsuit in November 2024 against the mother-and-son duo. Although she won’t be able to witness it, it seems that Barbie Hsu has finally been heard by both Douyin and Weibo.