In early May, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued a news stating that in response to serious ecological problems such as pornography and vulgarity on the Douyu platform, the Cyberspace Administration of China instructed the Hubei Provincial Internet Information Office to send a working group to the Douyu platform to carry out a one-month centralized rectification and supervision supervision.
The working group has been stationed for more than half a month, and Nandu reporters have measured a number of live broadcast platforms and found that the phenomenon of "rubbing edges" in the live broadcast room still exists. After the Nandu reporter reported the relevant situation to the customer service, he received a reply saying that "about the violation of your feedback, we have helped you feedback to the special person for further verification, and if there is a violation, it will be dealt with according to the platform rules after verification", and no further feedback was received.
Du Jiangyong, associate professor of the School of Civil and Commercial Law of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, pointed out to the Nandu reporter that there are more than multiple reasons for the repeated prohibition of "soft pornography", and in order to put an end to such phenomena, it is necessary to establish a sound punishment mechanism, including an access mechanism, a blacklist mechanism, a creditworthiness guarantee system, a platform exit system, and increase punishment.
Actual measurement: Live streaming on multiple platforms still has "edge-rubbing" behavior
In response to serious ecological problems such as pornography and vulgarity on the Douyu platform, on May 8, the Cyberspace Administration of China instructed the Hubei Provincial Internet Information Office to send a working group to the Douyu platform to carry out a one-month centralized rectification and supervision supervision.
The next day, Douyu issued an announcement on its official website, saying that it would actively cooperate with the centralized rectification and supervision of the Hubei Provincial Internet Information Office Working Group, conscientiously carry out in-depth self-inspection and self-correction work in accordance with regulatory requirements, further optimize the platform content review mechanism, and comprehensively and deeply clean up bad information and content.
Nandu reporters learned that as early as March, #Douyu official push soft performance#, #Douyu dance area# were on the hot search. Relevant content pointed out that when entering the Douyu platform late at night, many female anchors in the live broadcast room were dressed in revealing clothing, accompanied by provocative words and twisting waist, twisting buttocks, shaking chests and other highly suggestive actions, so as to attract attention and motivate users to reward. In addition to streamers who behave "sideways", the platform also pushes such live streams to newly registered users.
Recently, Nandu reporters entered the Douyu platform after 23 o'clock and found that there were still some female anchors in some live broadcast rooms wearing "cool" and dancing in the mirror, and in other conversational chat-style live broadcasts, some users also made explicit remarks in the comment area.
Nandu reporters observed that on platforms such as Peppercorn Live Broadcast, YY, and Momo, "brushing edges" also appeared in live broadcasts. In multiple live broadcast rooms, female anchors appeared wearing waistless suspenders and shorts, twisting their postures to the music, occasionally holding their chests up to face the camera and asking for tips. As long as the audience in the live broadcast room gives gifts, they can ask the anchor to dance, sing and other requirements, and the anchor will also encourage the audience to give gifts on the grounds that "gifts can be requested". "Get a 'necklace' and I'll change your pants." "You send me a 'romantic date', don't send or read private messages."
Female anchor of peppercorn live broadcast platform.
On the Momo platform, some anchors use a multi-person interactive mode to broadcast live, two teams compete, and the losing party will be punished. The content of punishment is generally proposed by the winning party and takes various forms, including kneeling, shaking legs and other behaviors. In the process of interaction, in order to win the PK victory, the female anchor will twist her waist, stroke her chest and other behaviors to get more rewards. There are also users who commented on the anchor's live broadcast page that "clothes off" and "wearing too much".
Momo anchor live broadcast page.
The staff of the illegal and adverse information reporting hotline displayed on Momo's official website told Nandu reporters that "during the live broadcast of the anchor, if the user finds pornographic and vulgar behavior, he can report it." It said it would be more difficult to report afterwards, and "our side did not know their business". The staff member said that after receiving the report, the platform "generally handles it in about two hours." The day after the Nandu reporter reported the situation on the above-mentioned anchor page, the anchor broadcast live as usual.
Nandu reporters found that many live broadcast rooms will display prompts such as "advocating green live broadcast", "strictly prohibiting content related to terrorism and pornography", and "the platform will be patrolled 24 hours a day". Nandu reporters inquired about such situations on live streaming platforms and found that the reporting methods of each platform were similar and different. In general, users need to submit screenshots or videos reflecting the violation, the ID account of the host, and describe the reason, time and incident of the violation that the user believes violation, and the feedback from the platform has a certain time difference.
In this regard, the Douyu platform opened a special policy for "How to use the room VIP?" "Does the live room ban affect revenue?" and other issues, and said that if you need to feedback the problem or initiate a complaint, you need to leave a message feedback, and the platform said that it will be dealt with within 24 hours. After receiving the relevant feedback, the platform replied within 24 hours that "about the violation of your feedback, we have helped you feedback to a special person for further verification, and if there is a violation, it will be dealt with according to the platform rules after verification", and no further feedback was made.
YY platform page.
The customer service of the YY platform told the Nandu reporter that "if users find violations, they can report them themselves." After the platform receives the reported information, the community staff will determine whether it is a violation according to the "YY Anchor Violation Management Method". If true, the staff will send a penalty notice to the anchor and restrict the anchor from adjusting the live broadcast content; If the anchor does not make corrections, the community will impose a second penalty.
Platform: Some profits have declined, and they have been named many times
After the barbaric growth of online live broadcasting, with the implementation of the new live broadcast regulations, coupled with the influence of other internal and external factors, the platform format has gradually changed.
Taking Douyu as an example, the official website of the platform shows that Douyu has taken advantage of the rapid development of online live broadcasting to seize the opportunity in the game live broadcast industry and continue to expand its live broadcast business; In July 2019, Douyu Live was officially listed on the NASDAQ exchange. Douyu's financial report shows that the net profit in 2021 and 2022 is -400 million yuan and -7.6 million yuan respectively.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, the net revenue of Momo's main app was 2,865.8 million yuan, and the net revenue in the third quarter of the same year was 2,891.0 million yuan. In the third quarter of 2022, the operating profit of Momo Main App was 569.4 million yuan, compared to 676.5 million yuan in the same period of the previous year. In the third quarter of 2022, the number of Momo paying users was 8.4 million, down 200,000 from the second quarter.
There are also successful platforms listed on the market. At the end of last year, after three attacks on Hong Kong stocks, Huafang Group Company, which owns platforms such as Peppercorn Live and Six Rooms, went public in Hong Kong. According to the prospectus, Peppercorn Live supports most of the revenue of Huafang Group, and from 2019 to 2021, Peppercorn Live revenue accounted for 76.5%, 76.3% and 70.7% of the total revenue, respectively. In terms of business modules, more than ninety percent of Huafang Group's revenue is generated from audio and video live broadcast business.
At the same time, violations on the platform have also sparked widespread discussion.
In September 2020, the Momo platform was fined by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, and after a remote inspection of the Momo platform, law enforcement officers found that there were suspected vulgar online live performances such as seductive dances on the Momo platform.
Huafang Group's core platform, Peppercorn Live, has also attracted attention due to extreme fan absorption mode and the dissemination of vulgar content. According to the prospectus, during the track record period, 33 of its anchors were included in the warning list of online live broadcast anchors issued by the China Performance Industry Association for displaying inappropriate content, of which 25 anchors were included in the warning list for sexually suggestive performance and language. In addition, Huafang Group was involved in 9 incidents in which it was fined by government departments for displaying inappropriate content on the platform, with a total fine of about RMB 100,000.
Nandu previously reported that in November 2017, Wu Yongning, known as the "first person to challenge at high altitude" in China, fell to his death while challenging extreme sports, which caused attention and condemnation of "live broadcast with blood". After Wu Yongning's death, Wu Yongning's family He brought to court a number of online platforms where Wu Yongning had posted videos.
In the case against Secret Realm Hefeng Company, the operator of "Peppercorn Live", the court of first instance held that in the nearly 4 months between Wu Yongning's registration of the account of the Peppercorn platform and his death, he had successively uploaded more than 100 dangerous action videos on the Peppercorn Live platform, and the platform did not carry out any relevant processing, which was a permissive, or even affirmation, of Wu Yongning's dangerous activities. Therefore, the platform failed to fulfill its security obligations and bore secondary and minor responsibility for Wu Yongning's death, and the court ruled in the first instance that Secret Realm and Wind Company compensated He with 30,000 yuan. On November 22, 2019, the judgment of the second instance of the case was pronounced, and the original judgment was upheld.
On February 15 this year, the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court held a press briefing and announced the top ten typical cases in 2022, among which the Douyu anchor "Yan Yanjiu Outdoor" live broadcast casino opening case was among the first gambling cases on a live broadcast platform in the country supervised by the Ministry of Public Security. It is reported that Fu Moulong and others are members of the live broadcast of the Douyu live broadcast platform "Yanyanjiu Outdoor" account, and from March 2017 to September 2020, they repeatedly used a large number of inflammatory language to encourage the audience in the live broadcast room to participate in the lottery by paying for "cards", swiping virtual gifts and other methods, and as of the time they were blocked, Fu Moulong and others organized a total of 4,267 lotteries (times), with more than 4.42 million people participating and nearly 120 million yuan in gambling funds.
On February 26, in the 2022 inventory of "anti-pornography and anti-illegal activities" released by the Cyberspace Administration of China, platforms such as Douyu and Peppercorn were also named, and the CAC said that the above-mentioned platforms were interviewed, rectified within a time limit, severely dealt with the relevant responsible persons, fined, and other harmful and negative information such as spreading pornographic drainage, vulgarity and vulgarity, violent abuse, and inducement of rewards.
Opinion: A sound disciplinary mechanism should be established
The entry of the internet information department into Douyu has aroused the attention of all parties.
Du Jiangyong, associate professor of the School of Civil and Commercial Law of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, told Nandu reporters that "stationing" means that the unit being stationed has problems, and cannot self-examine and correct itself, and needs to rely on external forces to supervise and solve them. In other words, problems such as pornography and vulgarity on the Douyu platform have reached a serious level, and it is necessary to supervise the platform in more depth in addition to interviews and administrative punishments to better solve the problem.
In fact, cyberspace is not a "place outside the law", and the mainland has successively issued a number of policies and regulations in response to the possible chaos of online live broadcasting. Nandu reporters noted that as early as November 2016, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued the Provisions on the Administration of Internet Live Streaming Services, clarifying the main responsibilities that Internet live streaming service providers should implement. In February 2021, the Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Standardized Management of Online Live Streaming jointly issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China and other seven departments also clearly stipulates that illegal and bad information such as vulgarity, feudal superstition, and "side-kicking" should be comprehensively cleaned up. In June 2022, the State Administration of Radio, Television and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism jointly issued the Code of Conduct for Online Anchors, which stipulates that online anchors must not display sexually suggestive or sexually provocative content such as costumes and makeup, language behavior, and live broadcast room scenery in the process of providing online performance and audiovisual program services.
Based on relevant policies and regulations, the regulatory authorities have repeatedly dealt a "heavy hand" on violations of laws and regulations, but the chaos of live streaming has always been banned. The reason is that Du Jiangyong pointed out that first, the entry threshold for live broadcast is too low, at present, the live broadcast platform has no qualification requirements for practitioners, no entry requirements for the anchor team, and the internal anchors of the platform are uneven; Second, the punishment is too light and the deterrent is insufficient, and some anchors can continue to make mistakes after their accounts are banned and their live broadcast rooms are blocked; Third, the supervision of platforms and competent authorities lacks initiative and timeliness; Fourth, in the highly competitive live broadcast market environment, the live broadcast platform only pursues interests and ignores the social nature of the platform.
Du Jiangyong said: "There is no chaos that cannot be managed, only a mind that does not want to be managed." He believes that in response to the chaos of live streaming platforms, a sound punishment mechanism should be established. The first is to establish an access mechanism, where anchors and teams need to undergo training, learning and sign an industry self-discipline commitment before they can enter the platform; Secondly, it is necessary to establish a blacklist mechanism, and once the platform anchor or user violates the law, he will immediately be included in the blacklist, or even banned for life; The third is to establish a creditworthiness guarantee system, which can not only raise the entry threshold, but also really make the punished person feel "pain" when punished, so that similar mistakes will not be made in the future; The fourth is to establish a platform exit mechanism, if the platform is found to have violated a certain number of times within a certain time, the platform can be required to suspend business for rectification, and if it fails to meet the standard several times in a row, the platform is directly closed; Finally, the punishment should be increased, and all violations of the criminal law will be severely punished.
Written by: Intern Huang Yu, He Yintao, Nandu reporter Ji Shi