China’s Cyberspace Administration announced to have punished 20,000 influencer, KOL accounts this year for “disseminating misguided content and polluting the internet environment”. China Top beauty KOL are on the Top list, and charges are
- disrespecting Chinese history,
- tax evasion
- posting erotic sexy content
- and incendiary content.
China’s Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like platform, has banned 145 celebrity accounts from publishing information that is harmful to maintaining social order. This includes those that incite ethnic hatred and discrimination and insult martyrs.
Sina Weibo announced Monday that it has taken several measures to clean up the online environment over the past week. These included banning and closing accounts of users who have published negative information about public affairs.
One of the 145 banned accounts includes a celebrity internet nicknamed Yanyexing Yan Gong Zi, who has been embroiled in controversy for comments on hot topics such as Kris Wu’s sex scandal.
Weibo has 5,201,686 total followers for “Yijinyexing Yan Gong Zi”. On August 2, she was banned for supporting Kris Wu, who was arrested recently for alleged rape.
A few celebrities, including Liuliu, the screenwriter, and Ma Weiwei, the debater, have apologized for their actions. After Wu’s arrest, Ma’s Weibo profile was suspended.
Weibo said that content that is contrary to the Constitution’s basic principles, threatens national sovereignty and territorial integrity, divulges state secrets or damages national honor, and that incites ethnic hatred and discrimination as well as insults and slanders martyrs are all considered negative information on public affairs.
The Weibo administration reminded everyone, including self-media platforms, to adhere to the regulations regarding internet information services. They stated that publishing, publishing, or disseminating prohibited contents is strictly prohibited
Viya $210 Million Penatly
Viya, a Chinese influencer in live-streaming shopping, was hit with a $210million penalty for tax evasion. She has been removed from social media. According to the Chinese state tabloid Global Times it is the most severe penalty ever imposed upon a live-streamer and a sign that the Chinese government has been putting pressure on internet celebrities.
Viya went to Weibo and offered a public apology. She also promised to pay RMB 1.34 trillion in penalties. Her Douyin, Taobao and Weibo accounts are all disabled at the moment. She has also been cancelled from her scheduled appearances. Source
Viya’s dilemma could have a significant impact on Taobao’s business. The livestream queen has generated a lot of viewership and sales. Viya’s engaging personality has helped her amass a large following on Taobao Live. The marketplace’s streaming channel. Over the past five years, Taobao featured Viya in high-stakes streams which have moved merchandise at an impressive pace.
Taobao is becoming more dependent on its top livestreamers. This includes Viya and Austin Li Jiaqi.
Austin Li aka Li JiaQi
Li Jiaqi was fined 300,000 yuan for false propaganda
Austin was known for testing out cosmetics during streams. Consumer expectations and consumer habits are changing. Li and Viya were the unmatched leaders in this market on the first day at the Singles’ Day shopping festival in November. They reported a combined gross sale volume of RMB 19. billion (USD 2.98 Billion).
Zhu Chenhui
Zhu Chenhui was the third most active livestreamer on Taobao Live during the sales bonanza. He was penalized RMB 65.5 millions (USD ten million) in November for tax fraud. Last month, Cherie made RMB 930 millions (USD 146million) for the marketplace. This is a fraction of Li’s run.
According to Zhejiang Province’s tax bureau, two e-commerce livestreaming experts were fined Monday by Hangzhou’s local tax regulators. Hangzhou is an ecommerce hub in China. As regulators tighten their control over the livestreaming sector, this is the largest tax evasion penalty ever levied against an influencer.
Lin Shanshan
Lin Shanshan and Zhu Chenhui were both fined RMB 65.5 millions (USD 10,000,000) respectively for declaring personal income as corporate income. Local tax regulators stated. Lin and Zhu were both caught evading personal tax at RMB 30.4 millions (USD 4.8million) and RMB 13 million (USD 2million), respectively.
The cases were both tagged to be further investigated by a big-data analysis system, Hangzhou’s tax administration representative said in a separate note. Officials said that the tax department is currently looking into other livestreamers suspected of tax evasion.
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