Li Jiaqi, the king of selling lipstick in China, made a big mistake: he replicated the military tanks (with cookies and ice cream) used in Tiananmen Square (China) massacre which happened decades ago. As he was in his liveshow, the platform took him off. He had committed an unforgivable sin by reminding the Chinese of that past when he live-streamed the “tanks” on the eve of the massacre’s anniversary.

Then, he has been largely banned.  Li is the world’s most successful seller of lipstick and makeup; he has the record of generating $1.7 billion in sales within 12 hours. In other words, he does more in hours than what some companies do in a year!

There are still three more weeks to go China’s annual mega shopping event on November 11, but one of China’s top livestreamers has already sold some $1.7 billion worth of goods in a promotion to usher in the event.

In a 12-hour-livestream on Wednesday kicking off Alibaba’s Singles Day Shopping Festival on its Taobao app, Austin Li Jiaqi — widely known as “Lipstick King” — moved 10.7 billion Chinese yuan ($1.7 billion) worth of products reported China’s Economic Daily newspaper. Alibaba does not typically release sales numbers, but CED cited data from third-party data analysis company Hongren Dianji.

But his creation of a tank with cookies and ice cream is causing problems. Now, China has unveiled new regulations to deal with livestreaming: “The 31 banned behaviors during live-streaming sessions include publishing content that weakens or distorts the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, the socialist system or the country’s reforms and opening-up.”

Simply, that livestream is going to eclipse and distort the world’s largest livestream-commerce market. Ice cream and biscuit (if you prefer that) could be that powerful!!!

Just when it feels the dust has settled on China’s regulatory crackdown on its tech sector, the authorities are shifting focus to another part of the country’s digital industry – live-streaming.

SCMP reports that China has issued new regulation on the live-streaming industry that lists 31 banned behaviors, limiting topics that influencers can talk about.

The latest move complements the government’s efforts since 2021 to regulate the booming digital economy. Other sectors of the tech industry, including payment, ride-hailing and edtech, have been severely dealt with as the government intensified efforts to clip wings and keep everything under the control of the Communist Party.

China Unveils 31 New Regulations to Control Live-streaming Behaviors

“We are also decentralising the national grid through renewable-driven mini-grids. The 550 million dollar Nigeria Electrification Project has deployed more than 20,000 Standalone Solar Systems (SHS), as well as Solar Hybrid mini-grids in over 250 locations.” – President Buhari

Yes, President Buhari is still working to fix electricity in Nigeria. His government is decentralizing the national grid and will inject $550 million needed funds to boost power supply. Sure, he has about 10 more months in the calendar and miracles which did not happen for seven years can still happen.

But let me tell Nigerians: do not allow APC to use this new “decentralization” playbook to distort your mind as you go to the polls next year. APC visited diasporas in America and sold the independent power plants, arguing against evidential technical challenges which posited that Nigeria would be unable to run gas-powered IPPs without gas pipeline infrastructure in the nation. Also, the liquefied version option would struggle with our bad roads and railtracks. But they were adamant and after 7 years, they have learned hard lessons.

Many policies will start flying in the next six months. Do not be distracted. PDP did the same thing in 2015 but still lost. APC must not get away from its failures.

I do not believe that APC has a solution to Nigeria’s electricity paralysis. We tried an umbrella; it could not light Nigeria by providing electricity. We tried broom, the small light even burnt it. Can we try a human this time?

President Buhari just re-promised to decentralize Nigeria’s national grid. I do not believe that APC has a solution to Nigeria’s electricity paralysis. We tried an umbrella*; it could not light Nigeria by providing electricity. We tried broom, the small light even burnt it. Can we try a human this time? The human fed by basket of food can even do better!

*PDP (umbrella), APC (broom), Labour (humans), NNPP (food basket)

Just when it feels the dust has settled on China’s regulatory crackdown on its tech sector, the authorities are shifting focus to another part of the country’s digital industry – live-streaming.

SCMP reports that China has issued new regulation on the live-streaming industry that lists 31 banned behaviors, limiting topics that influencers can talk about.

The latest move complements the government’s efforts since 2021 to regulate the booming digital economy. Other sectors of the tech industry, including payment, ride-hailing and edtech, have been severely dealt with as the government intensified efforts to clip wings and keep everything under the control of the Communist Party.

With the tech giants put in their place, China is shifting attention to live-streaming activities that have not only recorded huge success in recent times, but have empowered individuals to speak at will.

In a further report below, the SCMP highlights the 18-point guideline published by the National Radio and Television Administration and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Wednesday. It requires influencers to have relevant qualifications to discuss some topics, such as law, finance, medicine and education, although authorities did not specify the qualifications needed.

The 31 banned behaviors during live-streaming sessions include publishing content that weakens or distorts the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, the socialist system or the country’s reforms and opening-up.

Other prohibited behaviors include using deepfake technologies to tamper with the images of party or state leaders, and deliberately “hyping up” sensitive issues and attracting public attention.

Live-streamers are also forbidden from showing an extravagant lifestyle, such as displaying luxury products and cash, the guideline said.

The new regulation comes as the live-streaming e-commerce industry is undergoing rapid changes amid tightened scrutiny and economic headwinds.

Some of the most popular live-streamers on Taobao Live, Alibaba Group Holding’s live-streaming e-commerce platform, have fallen from grace for various reasons, leaving brands scrambling to look for new ways to market their products.

Austin Li Jiaqi, known as China’s “lipstick king” for once selling 15,000 tubes of lipstick in just five minutes, abruptly ended a live-streaming session on June 3, after he reportedly displayed a tank-shaped ice cream. The tank image is a frequent target of Chinese censors due to its association with the deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown by China’s military against pro-democracy protesters in Beijing on June 4, 1989.

Huang Wei, widely known as Viya, was fined a record 1.3 billion yuan (US$210 million) for tax evasion late last year, and has since disappeared from public view. This came after Zhu Chenhui and Lin Shanshan, two top influencers who were each fined tens of millions of yuan in November for tax evasion, also saw their social media accounts and e-commerce shops vanish.

Wednesday’s new guidelines stress that live-streamers should declare their income honestly and fulfill their tax obligations in accordance with the law.

The rules also direct platforms to refrain from giving public figures who have violated the law or shown “no ethics”, the opportunity to express their opinions publicly, hold performances, create a new account or switch to another platform.

China’s determination to regulate its digital industry has come at a heavy price, with billions of dollars lost as the crackdown forces the companies to make adjustments resulting in losses. Although this latest move will bear the same price, especially as China’s economy is battling resurgence of covid-19, Beijing has shown that what matters more is to bring every sector of its economy under the watchful eyes of the Communist Party.