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Recently, Douyu, as a well-known live broadcast platform, has once again attracted attention. First of all, on November 21, the arrest of Douyu CEO Chen Shaojie caused heated discussions among many netizens. There are rumors that it is suspected of opening a gambling game, but this has not been officially confirmed. The police are still investigating.
Then, a female blogger of the platform accused Douyu's company of claiming up to 80 million liquidated damages from herself in the past two years, and with the exposure of the female anchor, Douyu was brought to the forefront again. According to the woman's chat records, if the female college student settles with Douyu Legal, the amount will be 4 million. This incident once again aroused public discussion and concern about the company's moral bottom line.
The recent successive incidents of Douyu Company have attracted widespread attention and public opinion, and people have raised more questions about the problems existing in the company's management and operation. So what happened to the woman and the betta platform?
1. From dreams to dilemmas
Douyu is one of the most famous live broadcast platforms in China, and is regarded as one of the largest live broadcast platforms in China along with Huya. Recently, a female anchor Luo Li (pseudonym) indirectly signed a contract with a company under Douyu to conduct live broadcasts on the Douyu platform. It is understood that Luo Li is an outstanding graduate of the university's acting department, and since 2020, she has been deeply involved in disputes caused by the issue of liquidated damages for betta.
Like other anchors who have signed contracts on big platforms, Luo Li is also an art student with a good appearance, hoping to get some income through live broadcast to improve her life. Therefore, she signed a contract with Little Elephant Interactive Entertainment Company in her sophomore year in 2019 and became a contracted anchor under Douyu.
In the booming live streaming industry, 2019 is a golden age. Lori was also looking forward to success in the industry, however, the ensuing outbreak of the pandemic presented her with unexpected challenges. On November 25, 2020, a lawyer's letter broke Luo Li's peace. The letter came from Wuhan Ouyue NetTV Co., Ltd., the parent company of Douyu. It requires her to repay 80 million yuan in liquidated damages and return the income obtained on the Douyu platform.
This sudden huge penalty made Luo Li feel shocked and helpless. She didn't know when she had breached the contract, and the compensation fee was so high. It turned out that according to this agreement, it was signed by Little Elephant Mutual Entertainment on behalf of Douyu and Luo Li. The agreement stipulates that every month, Luo Li must broadcast 24 days a month, and the total duration must reach 120 hours.
It's a big challenge for a streamer. Lori must maintain a high level of concentration and mental state at all times to meet these demanding requirements. The consumption of such live broadcast time on the body is also extremely huge, which makes Luo Li's body exhausted. Under this pressure on student time, many college students find it difficult to maintain a normal schedule, and even life begins to become tense. Long hours of staying up late and overworking lead to health problems.
Luo Li is no exception, in order to meet the requirements of Betta, she has to live broadcast non-stop every day and can't relax. This took a huge toll on her body. Eventually, in early 2020, she was diagnosed with myocarditis. Doctors are urging Lori to avoid exertion, staying up late, and mood swings for a better recovery. This means that Luo Li must stop the live broadcast and take a good rest. However, this also gave Betta an excuse to claim liquidated damages.
Due to the change of myocarditis, Luo Li could not guarantee the live broadcast on time. This disease requires prolonged treatment and recuperation. During this period, she chose to open a live broadcast account on the Douyin platform, occasionally sharing her daily life of recuperation. This move will not only allow her to stay connected with the audience, but also bring her some additional traffic income. Soon, she attracted a large number of viewers and fans, earning a lot of traffic and income.
The Douyu platform has a strict management system for anchors, the most stringent of which is that anchors are not allowed to broadcast live on other platforms. This rule seems to protect the interests of the Douyu platform, but in fact, it puts Luo Li in a difficult situation. The "Commentary Cooperation Agreement" signed with Douyu requires Luo Li not to show her face on other platforms for live broadcasts, and prohibits unilateral termination of the agreement. Violators face penalties for returning all earnings and paying hefty liquidated damages.
II. Overlord Treaty
Little Elephant Mutual Entertainment informed Luo Li in 2022 that it had found evidence of her breach of contract, and used this to make her re-sign a new five-year contract, which not only required her to continue working on the Douyu platform, but also to compensate all liquidated damages and 80 million yuan in compensation. Lori felt very aggrieved and helpless because she had tried to ask for help but received no response.
Lori was very confused at the time, and she was hesitant about Betta's commitment, which meant that she would continue to be tied to the Betta platform. She also understands that if she does not agree, she will face huge liquidated damages and liability. She decided to give the proposal a thought. After discussions with family and friends, Lori decided to accept Betta's advice. She hopes to continue to grow her career through the Douyu platform and is confident that Douyu will deliver on their promises.
Things didn't go as smoothly as she expected. Soon after signing the new contract, she found that Douyu began to restrict her activities on Douyin, her videos were deleted, her account was banned, and she could no longer live stream on Douyin. Lori was very disappointed and angry, and she felt that the betta side had reneged on their promise.
Luo Li hesitated for a long time, but finally decided to give up this opportunity. She told Yang Wei that her father was sick and needed a lot of medical expenses, and at the same time she couldn't come up with so much money, and asked the other party for understanding and help. But Betta's staff ignored it, leaving Lori feeling very disappointed and helpless. She decided not to passively accept this treatment, but chose to expose the matter.
So, she began her own investigation. By going through the company's shareholding structure and agreement documents, she gradually unravels this complex mystery. It turns out that Little Elephant Mutual Entertainment and Wuhan Ouyue NetTV are both subsidiaries of Douyu and are controlled by Douyu CEO Chen Shaojie. Their contract is also under the control of Betta.
Douyu claimed that during the cooperation with Luo Li, Luo Li's actual income totaled 2.95 million yuan, but Luo Li said that she actually got less than 200,000 yuan. This made Luo Li even more indignant, because she gave so much time and energy in exchange for such a meager payment.
So, Luo Li began her own struggle. She expressed her dissatisfaction and demands to the public through Weibo, live broadcast and other means, and demanded a reasonable explanation and compensation from the Douyu platform. The response of the Douyu platform made her even more disappointed. They claimed to have "invested 4 million yuan" in costs for Luo Li, including promotion and drainage, but did not provide corresponding evidence.
Lori is shocked and outraged, and she realizes that she is being used as a pawn by these companies, just a tool to bring them revenue. She feels that this phenomenon not only infringes on her personal rights and interests, but also has a negative impact on the healthy development of the entire industry. So, she decided to stand up and expose the injustices of these companies. She revealed her experience to the media to let more people know the dark side of the industry, and the lawsuit between Luo Li and Betta is still ongoing.
Third, the contract issue highlights the chaos in the live broadcast industry
Luo Li is not the only streamer to be claimed by Betta, and many others have suffered similar difficulties. Their situation may be different, but they are all under great pressure for liquidated damages. This phenomenon of anchors being asked for huge liquidated damages for breach of contract has long been rampant in the live broadcast industry. The game anchor "Wei Shen" was claimed 127 million yuan by Douyu because he jumped to other platforms. In the end, the court sentenced him to pay 85.22 million yuan in compensation, which became the highest record in the history of the domestic live broadcast industry.
Huya game anchor "Hi Shi" was also awarded 49 million yuan in compensation by the court for leaving Douyu. And Zhang Daxian, the anchor of the Honor of Kings game, was sentenced to compensate Tencent 3.4 million yuan due to breach of contract. These cases are just the tip of the iceberg. Because the popularity is not high enough, the experience of many anchors has not been reported by the media. For those unsung streamers, they can be even more helpless and difficult.
Among them, Luo Li's family has said that Luo Li was required to sign a 46-page contract that contained complicated terms and unreasonable demands. Although she doesn't fully understand what's in the contract, she trusts Betta to treat her fairly. As time passed, Lori began to gradually discover what the problem was. Despite her rising popularity, she has been rewarded far less than expected. The promised generous pay turned into a meager figure, disproportionate to the hard work she had put in.
Luo Li is not sensitive to the law, which also led to her "selling" herself without even knowing it, some anchors initially thought that the cooperation with Betta was an opportunity, but it turned out to be just a beautiful trap, and even suspected of violating the law, and eventually some bloggers were forced to bear high default fees.
According to industry insiders, some MCN institutions will go to college campuses to look for potential anchors, taking advantage of their trust and lack of experience in college students to deceive. The report pointed out that some MCN institutions falsely claimed that the contract was only a formal process and had no legal effect when signing the contract for the recruited college student anchors. But when these anchors accumulate a certain amount of popularity, MCN agencies will force them to continue live streaming or compensate high liquidated damages on the grounds of "suspected breach of contract".
The recent problems of the Douyu platform make people doubt its business model and moral bottom line. The CEO was arrested on suspicion of opening a gambling game, the stock price fell sharply, and the anchor fled the platform, all of which had a huge negative impact on Douyu. In this case, Douyu adopts a high amount of liquidated damages to protect its own interests, which is actually an act of bullying the weak party, which not only lacks business ethics, but also may violate relevant laws and regulations, and it is time to rectify the live broadcast industry.
summary
After the incident fermented, some of these netizens believed that Luo Li should be held responsible for not carefully reviewing the content of the contract when signing the contract, and they believed that this was an irresponsible behavior. Others believe that this is a form of contract fraud, with platforms exploiting streamers by using complex contract terms and information asymmetry.
However, this incident does remind us to be cautious when signing contracts. As workers, we should carefully read the terms of the contract to ensure that our rights and interests can be fully protected. At the same time, it is also necessary to enhance legal awareness and understand relevant laws and regulations, so as to better protect their legitimate rights and interests. In emerging industries, there may be some special and complex clauses in contracts, and we need to be especially vigilant and consult professionals to get the necessary help and advice.
In addition, the regulatory authorities should also strengthen the supervision of the live streaming platform industry, formulate clearer laws and regulations, protect the rights and interests of workers, and prevent the recurrence of similar contract disputes and breach of contract fees. In particular, there is a question of earnings and compensation for anchors. Through the strengthening of supervision, it can effectively prevent the emergence of unreasonable contract terms and sky-high breach of contract fees, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers.