China to blacklist and ban unlawful live-streaming hosts

[Photo/IC]

According to a guideline issued on Thursday by China's Ministry of Culture, live-streaming performers will now be held accountable for any content they show that is deemed inappropriate, and serious violators will be blacklisted nationwide. In order to enforce these new guidelines, the ministry will be conducting random checks on domestic live video-streaming platforms.

Violent and pornographic performances will be automatically flagged and their providers blacklisted, as well as those featuring deformed bodies or torture of humans or animals, the guidelines stated. Those on the blacklist will not only be banned from online performance, but also from other for-profit activities.

The guidelines also require live-streaming websites to employ supervisors to monitor online performances and cut off the broadcast of prohibited activities. The ministry is currently drafting a formal set of regulations dealing with live-streaming oversight.

More than 20 companies already signed self-disciplinary agreements beginning in April. According to the terms of the agreement, performers are required to register their real names, and all live videos must be recorded and saved for at least 15 days for the purpose of inspection, according to news site guancha.cn.

Earlier in April, the Ministry of Culture investigated 19 live-streaming sites for "allegedly providing content that contains pornography or violence," including Douyu TV where some couples live-streamed themselves having sex, Global Times reported.