China starts clamping down on selected live streaming

China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has tightened its crackdown on illegal online games, live-streaming apps and websites hosting illegal performances, it announced Tuesday.

According to the Xinhua news agency, the ministry has ordered app stores to check the qualifications of live-streaming apps. Nearly 5,000 live-streaming apps have been investigated and 370 were closed.

A total of 14 companies were blacklisted by the Ministry after being found to have put live-streaming apps into app stores using fake business licenses. App stores were asked to close 57 apps made by these companies.

Thirty ‘performance websites’ were investigated for illegal performances involving pornography, violence, gambling and superstitions, including websites that did not require performers to register with their real names or their identity.

The ministry also investigated 50 online games for illegal content or content that ‘instigates crime or compromises social norms.’

Some games did not adopt measures to prevent juveniles from internet addiction, and some did not require real-name registration or protect users’ information, the ministry said.

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