People’s Daily calls for tighter control of live-streaming e-commerce in China as controversies mount
- An opinion piece on the Chinese Community Party mouthpiece advocates for more regulations of the live-streaming e-commerce industry
- Misconduct in the industry, from fraudulent advertising to misleading pricing, should be addressed and punished, the piece argues
An opinion piece published by the chief mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party has called for tighter oversight of live-streaming e-commerce, a popular but controversial segment of the country’s online shopping industry, in a sign that government attitude towards the sector may be shifting.
While employing influencers to sell goods online has become an important way for e-commerce platforms to attract consumers, China should improve regulation of the thriving sector, which is creating “chaos”, according to the People’s Daily piece published on Wednesday.
A series of misconduct in the live-streaming industry, from fraudulent advertising to misleading pricing, should be addressed and punished for the sake of the sector’s healthy and sustained growth, the piece said.
Live-streaming e-commerce has seen exponential growth in recent years. Sales in the sector jumped 58.9 per cent year on year in the first 10 months of this year, reaching 2.2 trillion yuan (US$311 billion) and accounting for 18.1 per cent of all online shopping sales in China, according to data by the Ministry of Commerce.
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Some of the top industry players include Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao, ByteDance’s Douyin and Kuaishou Technology. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.