Young netizens use 'momo' name to hide identity
年轻网民用“momo”这个名字来隐藏身份
Many young Chinese people have adopted "momo" as their alias on social media platforms so they can speak more freely and protect their privacy, while avoiding online confrontation and harassment.
许多中国年轻人将“momo”作为自己在社交媒体平台上的化名，以便更自由地发言、保护自己的隐私，同时避免网络对抗和骚扰。
Originally the default user name for new accounts on social media platforms such as Douban and Xiaohongshu, it later became more widely used among online fans who wanted to safely gossip about celebrities without being harassed by competing fans. Netizens also use momo to express views and feelings online without being noticed by others.
最初，“momo”是豆瓣、小红书等社交媒体平台上新账号的默认用户名，后来，它在希望安全八卦明星而不受其他粉丝骚扰的在线粉丝中得到了更广泛的应用。网民们也用 momo 来表达自己的观点和感受，而不被他人注意到。
They have also adopted the same profile image — a pink dinosaur — to better hide their identities. Netizens often joke that they can find momo everywhere, with the momo group proudly saying that they do not want to be recognized.
他们还使用了相同的头像——一只粉色恐龙——以更好地隐藏自己的身份。网民们经常开玩笑说到处都能找到 momo，而 momo 群体则自豪地表示他们不想被认出。
He Xin, 18, a high school graduate in Yichang, Hubei province, changed her name on Xiaohongshu to momo about a month ago so that she would not be tracked down by others.
18岁的何欣是湖北省宜昌市的一名高中毕业生，大约一个月前，她将自己的小红书名字改成了 momo，以防被他人追踪。
"I have been recognized in the comment section of a post before, a somewhat embarrassing situation, so I changed my name to momo," she said. "I want to speak freely online and not be noticed or remembered."
她说：“我之前在评论区被认出来了，有点尴尬，所以我把名字改成了 momo，我想在网上自由发言，而不被注意或记住。”
Her first post on Xiaohongshu was about her scores in the national college entrance exam, where she did not perform well. To her surprise, many netizens, whose names are also momo, offered her encouragement and friendly suggestions.
她在小红书上的第一篇帖子是关于她的高考成绩的，她考得并不好。令她惊讶的是，许多也叫 momo 的网民给了她鼓励和友好的建议。
"People whose names are momo value privacy," she said. On WeChat moments, where everyone knows who I am, I cannot say whatever I want, so on Xiaohongshu, under momo, I am free to speak my mind."
她说：“叫 momo 的人都很注重隐私，在微信朋友圈，大家都知道我是谁，我不能想说什么就说什么，但在小红书上，在 momo 的身份下，我可以畅所欲言。”
A postgraduate student in Nanjing, Jiangsu province surnamed Zhou started to use momo on Douban more than three years ago so it would be easier to make comments about his idol, a Chinese pop star in a South Korean boy band.
江苏省南京市的一名姓周的研究生三年前开始在豆瓣上使用 momo，以便更容易地对他的偶像——一位在韩国男团中的中国流行歌手——发表评论。
On Douban, fans of different idols often engage in competitions and fights, so anonymity helps them say more things, Zhou said.
周同学说，在豆瓣上，不同偶像的粉丝之间经常发生争吵，所以匿名有助于他们发表更多言论。
After a government regulation was passed requiring online platforms to show the province users were posting from, they started to call each other momo plus their location, such as "Hunan momo" or "Beijing momo", making it somewhat less anonymous, he said.
政府颁布了一项规定，要求在线平台显示用户发帖所在的省份后，他们开始用“momo”加上自己的位置来互相称呼，比如“湖南 momo”或“北京 momo”，这让他们的匿名性有所降低，他说。
Guan Yangyin, 20, an undergraduate student at Wuhan University, said she used to call herself "12345"before changing to momo. She said she has not engaged in online fights with others, but seeing other momos arguing with each other can be fun. Sometimes, you can see someone changing his or her name to momo in the middle of a fight to make it easier for them to continue arguing, she said.
武汉大学20岁的本科生关阳音说，她在改名为 momo 之前，曾称自己为“12345”。她说，她并没有在网上与人争吵，但看到其他 momo 互相争论却很有趣。她说，有时，你会看到有人在争论中改名成 momo，以便更容易地继续争论。
Qin Lan, an associate professor at Xiangtan University in Hunan, said the prevalence of momo on social media platforms shows that young people want communication in a less obvious and carefree way, but also warned them to be aware of the negative impact of cyberbullying and try to be civil in public discourse.
湖南湘潭大学副教授秦岚表示，社交媒体平台上 momo 的普及表明，年轻人希望以一种不太明显且无忧无虑的方式进行交流，但也警告他们要注意网络欺凌的负面影响，并努力在公共话语中保持文明。
There is a tendency in public discourse nowadays to increase transparency, but that was being resisted by the momo group, which increased the ambiguity of interpersonal communication, she said. Qin said true anonymity does not exist online, and people should still comply with social morality, the law and regulations on social media platforms.
她表示，当今公共话语中有一种增加透明度的趋势，但这一趋势却遭到了 momo 群体的抵制，这增加了人际交流的模糊性。秦岚说，网络上不存在真正的匿名性，人们仍然应该遵守社交媒体平台上的社会道德、法律和法规。
"There is nothing wrong with being momo online, but if you only want to vent your anger in anonymity at your will, it is not a wise choice," she said.
她说：“在网上做 momo 没有错，但如果你只想匿名随意发泄你的愤怒，那并不是明智的选择。”
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