Why is China blurring men's ears?

Chinese TV personality Jing Boran has something on his ear that authorities don't want you to see.

In the latest episode of the popular Chinese reality TV show "I, Actor," the young star's face is digitally altered to blur out his earrings.

Jing, who held lead roles in Chinese box office hits "Monster Hunt" and "Time Raiders," is not the only victim of the alleged "earring ban." Images circulating on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, show several other young male stars with blurred circles on their ears.

It's unclear if Chinese regulators have issued a specific directive barring men from being shown wearing earrings, or whether TV stations are reacting to a shift in what is considered culturally appropriate.

Last year, China's media regulator banned TV stations from featuring actors with tattoos. Depictions of "hip hop culture, sub-culture and immoral culture," were also banned to Chinese state media.

China's broadcasting authority did not immediately reply to CNN's request for comment Friday.

Chinese fans were quick to criticize the ban on Weibo, accusing authorities of holding men and women to different and outdated standards of beauty.

"This is gender stereotyping ... and ignores the diversity of different groups," user Eryn01 said.

"They control more and more," said blogger Chen Sanyi. "If a female star has short hair, will her whole head be blurred? How about banning all those female stars who look genderless and guide girls not being neither female nor male?"

China's censors are some of the strictest and most technologically advanced on the on the planet.

When it comes to television, the country's regulations previously barred programs from airing content that expresses "overt admiration for Western lifestyles," jokes about Chinese traditions or defiles "classic materials."

The country's censors have also been quick to black out content on LGBT issues. Guidelines released in China in 2016 characterized homosexuality as an "abnormal sexual behavior" unfit for Chinese television, alongside incest, sexual abuse and "perversion."