Chinese authorities on Friday issued regulations on live streaming services on the Internet, citing the need for a “healthy live streaming environment”.
Internet live streaming has been growing fast as a new form of communication. Currently, there are over 300 companies offering live streaming platform services in China, according to a report published on Friday by the Central Leading Group of Cyberspace Affairs of China.
In the view of the authorities, there has been a spread of illegal and harmful information including pornography, violence, rumor, and fraud, and a lack of qualifications for certain platforms, justifying the need for new legal measures.
As stipulated in the regulations, both live streaming service providers and publishers are demanded to obtain registration before they can operate. They have to provide services within a permission range stated by the authorities.
Also, all live streaming and interaction information should be reviewed before being published by the service providers; an editor-in-chief is demanded for all service providers.
Companies have been told they should establish and improve relevant management systems, for example, to develop the technical capabilities to promptly stop live streaming if necessary, in case of live streaming that is deemed to be improper. They should also set up lists for creditable content, and a blacklist for those that go against the the rules.
The regulations will be put into force on December 1, 2016.
The size of the Internet live streaming market in China was RMB nine billion (USD 1.3 billion) in 2015. The user numbers reached 200 million in 2015, according to the business research firm ASKCI.
