More than 100 million followers of Viya, dubbed the country’s “queen of livestreaming” by the Chinese media and public, awoke on Tuesday to find her e-commerce and social media accounts shut down.
| China’s “common prosperity” crackdown has turned a harsh spotlight on the country’s massive livestream e-commerce business – underlining the fragility of a surging sales channel that some of the world’s biggest brands have come to rely on.
Beijing’s vow to be tough on tax dodgers as it seeks to eliminate vast disparities in income at a time of slower economic growth has claimed numerous high-flying victims. But the scale of the fine on Viya, a 36-year-old former singer whose real name is Huang Wei, far exceeds that of other well-known cases.“People were shocked to learn livestreamers make so much money,” said Liu Xingliang, president of tech consultancy China Internet Data Centre.
One typical follower is Beijing white-collar worker Liang Ye, who said she usually spends most of her evenings playing Li or Viya’s livestreams in the background. Her recent purchases include a Shu Uemura cleansing oil and a Yves Saint Laurent lipstick. The fine doled out to Viya, however, comes after a series of warnings aimed to tighten up practices in the sector and other punishments levelled against some of her smaller peers – a sign that more headwinds could be in store.
But China’s internet watchdog also drafted rules for the first time last year – which are being trialled this year – to regulate the country’s livestreaming marketing industry, requiring internet platforms to better monitor their content and ordering livestreamers to register with their real names.Its commerce regulator followed this up with guidelines in August, saying livestreamers should speak Mandarin and dress appropriately when promoting products.
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