Doctor livestreamed gynecological surgery

A doctor surnamed Li who allegedly livestreamed a gynecological operation has been arrested, police in the Donggang district of Rizhao, Shandong province, said on Tuesday.

The police received a report about the incident at 4 pm on Tuesday that said the video had appeared on Bilibili, a popular online video sharing and entertainment platform, on Saturday.

During the livestream, the patient asked a female doctor whether a man in the room was the doctor who would perform the operation on her and was told that he was the anesthesiologist, not the surgeon, according to a Bilibili user who entered the livestream accidentally on Saturday and reported it to the platform while the livestream was going on.

In the livestream, the man presented photos of the patient's genitalia, with the patient unaware of what he was doing, the Bilibili user said, adding that the man's colleague didn't stop him from taking photos or livestreaming.

The livestream was cut off after several warnings and the livestreaming account has been closed, Bilibili said on Tuesday.

Rizhao Central Hospital, where the man works, said on Wednesday it will handle the case according to the results of the police investigation.

Although the platform responded quickly when users reported the objectionable content, the incident has triggered widespread anger and complaints about its content review system.

"Does this need several warnings? Why not close the livestream at the first moment it started," a Sina Weibo micro-blog user commented in a post that attracted over 13,000 likes.

Zhu Wei, deputy director of the communications law research center at China University of Political Science and Law, said "legal, social and moral responsibilities are the main responsibilities that network platform runners should take" in their daily work.

"If improper activities occur, punishments shall be enforced," he said. "For livestreamers who violate regulations, punishments shall be added on their credit records and for the platform runners, they shall be given a fine and also have credit punishments."

It was not the first time that improper videos have appeared on Bilibili.

On Monday, a Bilibili user disclosed that surveillance videos from public places such as schools and hospitals had been released on the video platform. The videos were suspected of being uploaded by someone who accessed cameras illegally.

The videos had been removed from the platform, Bilibili said on Monday.