BEIJING - China’s internet watchdog has drafted rules for the first time to regulate the country’s livestreaming marketing industry, stepping up scrutiny on e-commerce marketplaces belonging to the likes of tech giant Alibaba Group and JD.Com.
Last week China published draft regulations aimed at preventing anti-monopolistic behaviour by internet platforms which wiped hundreds of billions of dollars off the value of some tech giants including Alibaba and Tencent. Telegenic hosts sell goods from personal care products to home appliances in real time and top Chinese livestreamers like “lipstick king” Li Jiaqi and Viya can sell products worth millions of yuan in a single livestreaming session on platforms such as Alibaba’s Taobao, ByteDance’s Douyin and Kuaishou.
The Cyberspace Administration of China said in a statement on Friday that under the planned rules, livestreamers will need to provide their real-name identification and social credit codes to the internet platforms they use. The platforms will in turn have to submit regular reports to local authorities.