China to tighten regulation of livestreaming, short videos

BEIJING - The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) on Thursday said it will continue to crack down on wrongdoing and malpractice in livestreaming and short videos in 2022.

The administration said at a press conference that it will strengthen the regulation of tipping in livestreaming and punish livestreamers who falsely induce their viewers to tip. Livestreamers will also be punished for putting up fake viewer counts and sales data.

Entertainers who have broken the law or transgressed social morality, as well as internet accounts that have been banned, will be strictly prevented from making a comeback, according to the administration.

The cyberspace regulator will step up efforts to battle online rumors, fake reviews and sales, ghost followers, and the "internet water army", which refers to groups of ghostwriters paid to post online comments.

It will also intensify the regulation of the use of algorithm technologies, the information provided by mobile applications, and the operation of internet accounts this year, said Sheng Ronghua, deputy head of the administration, at the press conference.

The CAC launched a series of campaigns to curb online malpractice in 2021. As a result, 1.34 billion accounts were punished, over 7,200 livestreamers were banned for malpractice, and more than 2,160 mobile apps were removed from app stores, according to the administration.