Growing concerns over the desire to be famous online
Print Edition
ONE man’s extreme desire for attention has drawn heated criticism and sparked a debate about China’s increasingly chaotic live-streaming industry.
Jiang Bo, who lives in southwest China’s Chongqing, live-streamed an attack on a wasp’s nest. After suffering 37 stings, he fell into a coma and had to be admitted to the intensive care unit of a local hospital.
His video was viewed more than 15,000 times on Kuaishou.com, a live-streaming site where he is a registered member. Other videos he has aired include instant-freezing a salamander and frying a cigarette lighter.
Jiang’s wasp stunt became a hot topic on social media, receiving over 260,000 views on Weibo alone.
He had reportedly been webcasting for three months and making about 3,000 yuan (US$446) a month from streaming his videos.
Live streaming is becoming increasingly popular in China. Entertainment shows, sports games and computer games are the most common live feeds. One only needs a smartphone and an account to make a live show and interact with viewers.
According to online research company Iresearch, China has more than 200 websites for live broadcasting, with a market value of 9 billion yuan and more than 200 million users. Larger platforms operate 3,000 webcast rooms every day.
Liu Xinzheng, vice president of Miaopai, a video-sharing company, says webcasters make money from contracts with websites.
“Famous webcasters can pocket millions because they are able to gather a large number of viewers,” he said.
Wang Sixin, director of the Internet law and intellectual property rights research center at the Communication University of China, said: “Webcasting is ballooning into a huge business and has attracted generous financiers. It is a promising market, but there is underlying chaos.
“Pornographic, vulgar and low content abound,” he said.
In 2014, a woman named Kaka cut her wrist in a live webcast. Her account was suspended, but it quickly resumed. Earlier this year, thousands of viewers watched a group fighting during an outdoor entertainment show.
“Webcasting should not be simply profit-driven. We need to control and remove vulgar content and develop more quality content,” said Lyu Benfu, director of the web economy research center with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In July, the Ministry of Culture said it had punished a number of companies for hosting obscene, violent or illegal content on the Internet.
In total, 4,313 live feeds on 26 websites run by 23 companies were shut down and another 16,000 live-feed rooms were ordered to rectify their practices, the ministry said, adding that the companies had been forced to terminate contracts with 1,502 online performers.
Douyu.com, which broadcast a live sex show in January, was one of 12 companies ordered to cease or remove illegal content that was deemed obscene, violent or to have encouraged viewers to break the law.
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