New rules to regulate online live streaming market

An online anchor uses her mobile phone to do live streaming. [Photo/Xinhua]

To promote the healthy growth of online live streaming, China’s cyberspace administration has released new regulations for live streaming services management to come into effect Dec 1.

The online live streaming, a new way of diffusing information, is growing rapidly, according to the chief of cyberspace administration. However, pornographic, violent, fraudulent or unsubstantiated material is being widely disseminated on some platforms.

To guarantee healthy online news live streaming and interactions, the new regulations stipulate that providers of online live streaming should review the contents before broadcasting them on the Internet. Platforms which provide a news live streaming service should have editors in chief responsible for that review.

The live streaming platforms bear the chief management responsibility, according to the Guang Ming Daily. The regulations also stipulate that the live streaming provider should arrange professional staff suitable for the scale of its service as well as the technological skills to interrupt a live broadcast in a timely way when required.

Zhu Wei, deputy director of the China University of Political Science and Law, indicated that it’s the first time that Internet credit has been taken into consideration in the management of online live streaming, which is significant for related future legal frameworks.

“Those who chip away at the edges and play smart in the market will lose credit and profit; their right to live streaming will also be banned. Only when credit is related to profit and honesty will it accrue in the online live streaming market,” Zhu said.

Many live streaming platforms say that they will firmly follow the new regulations. Yixia Technology, a leading provider of mobile video technology and services, said that observing laws and regulations and building a positive and healthy online cultural environment is a precondition of sustainable development for the industry, adding that “the new regulations will have a positive influence.”