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China’s live-streaming video market may face tougher regulation amid spread of ‘vulgar content’
- A commentary published by the Economic Daily once again puts the spotlight on the proliferation of ‘vulgar content’ online
- While the article did not identify the providers responsible for such content, shares of Kuaishou and Bilibili were hammered in Hong Kong on Thursday
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China’s live-streaming video market will need tougher regulation to stop the spread of vulgar content and low-level entertainment, according to a commentary published on Thursday by the Economic Daily, sending a fresh signal that Beijing could tighten supervision on the likes of ByteDance, Kuaishou Technology and Bilibili.
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This market, currently with about 130 million live-streaming video accounts, has become “a game for traffic flows, as operators compete on who can be as vulgar as possible”, according to the Economic Daily, which is a newspaper directly under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
“If we just blame this on the improper behaviour of live-streamers and ignore the improper distribution mechanism of platforms, we will be missing the point,” the commentary said. “If platforms prefer traffic flows [over high-quality content], this will surely create a group of low-quality, vulgar and pandering live-streaming video accounts.”
The opinion piece, which was republished by Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily, has come on the heels of a campaign recently launched by China’s top propaganda agencies to limit the role of algorithms in online content distribution.
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Inside a Chinese internet censorship centre
Inside a Chinese internet censorship centre
While the Economic Daily’s article did not identify any company in China’s live-streaming video market, investors of publicly listed providers took the cue.
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The shares of short video-sharing app operator Kuaishou plunged 15.3 per cent to close at HK$89.10 on Thursday in Hong Kong. Kuaishou’s share price has declined over the past three quarters since its peak of HK$417 in February. Shares of Bilibili, often described as China’s answer to YouTube, closed down 3.2 per cent to HK$628. That marked the stock’s lowest level since its Hong Kong trading debut on March 29, when it closed at HK$800.
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