Loanword from Japanese 風評被害 ("(Suffering) Harm by Rumors"). In Japanese this usually refers to reputational damage (and associated financial/economic loss) caused to a company/organization by rumors or misinformation (usually arising from news reports describing supposedly unrelated/inconsequential events that the public think are related).

The word has entered the Chinese lexicon (mostly informally) due to translations from Japanese reports describing 'irradiated food scares' associated with the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, with 風評被害 kept as is.

In anime/manga/game context, 風評被害/风评被害 refers to in-jokes or memes associated with a specific character in a 'reputational-damaging' way. Examples include Too-poor-so-she-eats-grass Reimu, Kleptomaniac Marisa, Pad Chief Sakuya, Eternally-17-years-old-Yukari, Easily-Hypnotized Alice, Perverted Homura, Most-likely-to-do-enkou Suzuya and Atarashi Ako, etc.