How China’s punishment of Viya has far-reaching consequences for live-streaming shopping
- The online store and social media accounts of Viya were wiped hours after the Hangzhou tax authority levied total fines of US$210 million
- Analysts say fines on Viya and other top influencers show that live-streaming is no longer a ‘blind spot’ when it comes to taxation
China’s harsh punishment of Viya, one of the country’s leading live-streamers, by levying a record fine and erasing her online presence overnight will generate far-reaching consequences for Alibaba Group Holding and the new online shopping trend that has transformed e-commerce in the past few years, analysts say.
The online store and social media accounts of Viya, whose real name is Huang Wei, were wiped hours after the Hangzhou tax authority levied fines totalling US$210 million on the live-streaming star, a record tax penalty for a Chinese citizen. It remains unknown whether the ban on Viya is temporary or permanent.
The move came after two other top influencers on Alibaba, Zhu Chenhui, known as Xueli Cherie, and Lin Shanshan, were also fined for tax evasion and removed from China’s online space a few days ago. Such is the scale of the tax crackdown on these popular influencers – who can often sell in a few hours what it takes a shopping centre to do in an entire year – that some analysts are questioning whether Beijing actually wants to stamp out live-streaming e-commerce altogether.
“Viya’s case is a warning and an example for the entire industry,” said Cui Yanshuang, a Shanghai-based lawyer at law firm RICC & CO. “As the top live-streamers are [taken down], smaller live-steamers may have similar problems.”
Viya has been a key asset for Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post. On the first day of this year’s Singles’ Day festival on October 20, Viya and her team sold 8.5 billion yuan (US$1.33 billion) worth of goods in a 14-hour live-streaming session. The amount exceeded whole-year revenue at Wangfujing Group, one of China’s largest department store chains, in 2020.
The sales generated by Viya, Cherie as well as Lin Shanshan have been critically important for Alibaba when it comes to defending its position in online shopping against competitors such as Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and short-video sharing platform Kuaishou.