China Launches Campaign to Clean Up Livestream Tipping
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China’s top internet watchdog on Tuesday launched a two-month nationwide campaign to clean up “chaos” in the livestreaming industry’s tipping culture, signaling a further tightening of regulations on the massive sector.
The special action, announced by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), will target four key problems: vulgar content designed to solicit donations, fraudulent personas used to deceive users, the inducement of minors to tip, and platform mechanics that encourage irrational spending.
The move follows a series of regulatory actions in recent years. In mid-2022, authorities ordered platforms to remove tipping leaderboards and banned minors from tipping altogether. In 2023, several high-profile streamers were banned for compliance issues, prompting some internet content platforms to scale back their livestreaming operations.
The new campaign focuses on specific high-risk areas, such as entertainment-focused group broadcasts and “private-domain” streams, where problematic practices are more likely to flourish.
This reflects a deeper regulatory push to address the business models of an industry that had 833 million users on the Chinese mainland as of Dec. 2024, making it the second-largest form of online content after short videos, according to a report from the China Netcasting Services Association.
The crackdown will first target vulgar group broadcasts that solicit tips through sexually suggestive acts, inappropriate games like “emperor choosing concubines,” or other unsettling behavior.
Second, authorities will clamp down on the use of fake personas to defraud users. This includes streamers falsely portraying themselves as coming from poor backgrounds, being royalty, or holding professional roles like soldiers and doctors. The campaign will also target those who fabricate stories of misfortune, use AI-generated content to deceive viewers, or lure the elderly into tipping under the guise of supporting charity or youth entrepreneurship.
Third, the campaign will address practices that induce minors to tip. This includes streamers who form relationships with underage users, teach them how to use their parents’ identities to bypass platform controls, or even pretend to be minors themselves to attract donations.
Finally, the regulator is targeting platform features that encourage irrational high-value tipping. These include the failure to set reasonable caps on single tips or daily spending, the use of tipping-based rankings to promote streamers, and granting special privileges — such as immunity from being muted or kicked from a stream — to users who make large donations.
The CAC said it would severely punish accounts, platforms, and multichannel network (MCN) agencies that repeatedly violate the rules. It also plans to publicly expose major negative examples to serve as a deterrent.
Platforms have been ordered to refine their content review standards, strengthen management of tipping limits and spending reminders, and improve mechanisms for handling complaints and refunding tips made by minors.
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- China’s internet regulator launched a two-month crackdown targeting abuses in the livestreaming tipping industry, addressing vulgar content, fake personas, and practices inducing minors to tip.
- The campaign targets high-risk areas and platforms, affecting an industry with 833 million users as of December 2024, the second-largest online content form in China.
- Platforms must tighten content reviews, manage tipping limits, and refund tips made by minors, with severe penalties for repeated violations.
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What Happened When
- Mid-2022：
- Chinese authorities ordered platforms to remove tipping leaderboards and banned minors from tipping altogether.
- 2023：
- Several high-profile streamers were banned for compliance issues, prompting some internet content platforms to scale back their livestreaming operations.
- Dec. 2024：
- The livestreaming industry had 833 million users on the Chinese mainland, making it the second-largest form of online content after short videos, according to a report from the China Netcasting Services Association.
- October 28, 2025：
- Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) launched a two-month nationwide campaign to clean up chaos in the livestreaming industry’s tipping culture.
- October 28, 2025：
- The CAC said it would severely punish accounts, platforms, and multichannel network (MCN) agencies that repeatedly violate the rules, and plans to publicly expose major negative examples in 2025.
AI generated, for reference only
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