A screen shot of a live stream on streaming site Panda TV Photo: IC

China's Ministry of Culture announced plans to investigate 19 live streaming websites suspected of violating laws and regulations concerning streaming copyrighted material, including douyu.com, huya.com, yy.com, Panda TV, Zhanqi TV, longzhu.com, 6 Rooms and 9158.com, according to a press conference held on Thursday.

The investigation will look into whether these live streaming platforms have provided pornographic or violent content, or content that promotes criminal behavior or violates social morals.

Live streaming featuring live performances by hosts or video game Let's Play videos have become very popular in China in recent years.

According to the ministry, roughly 200 million users watch streaming platform content. During peak hours, approximately 3,000 to 4,000 streamers may be performing at a single time accumulating a total of 2 to 3 million views.

As live streaming becomes more popular, some hosts have introduced sexualized content to attract audiences and have viewers spend money on virtual gifts off of which hosts can earn a profit.

The ministry stated that it has already contacted these platforms and will work with them to strengthen regulations and establish a long-term regulation system for live streaming performances.


Newspaper headline: Live streaming crackdown