China to strengthen supervision of online streaming

BEIJING - Chinese authorities have vowed to strengthen the management of online streaming, showing no mercy for the content that is deemed pornographic and unscrupulous.

Nie Chenxi, head of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), said authorities will crack down on activities that use live streaming to break the law and undermine people's interests.

Nie made the remarks at the 4th China Internet Audio-visual Conference, a two-day event which concluded Friday in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

SAPPRFT said that it had handled more than 100 suspected violations of regulations and laws, including online dramas, films and other audio-visual programs since the beginning of the year.

Zhuang Rongwen, deputy head of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), urged regulators, associations and Internet firms to make concerted efforts to deal with problems with live streaming, including spreading pornography, violence and rumors, as well as infringements on privacy.

A regulation on live streaming, which has been in effect since Dec. 1, will help authorities.

The regulation released by the CAC makes it compulsory for presenters to register with their real names and obliges service providers to censor content and blacklist users who break the rules, prohibiting them from registering again.

It also bans the use of live streams to undermine national security, destabilize society, disturb social order, infringe upon others' rights and interests, or disseminate inappropriate content, including pornography.

Online streaming has grown rapidly in China in recent years, generating huge business opportunities while bringing challenges to regulators.

As of June, the number of streaming service users reached 514 million, accounting for 72.4 percent of China's Internet population, according to the 2016 China Online Streaming Development Study Report.

The report said watching video online has become the primary form of online entertainment in China, tailed by online gaming and reading literature.