Qualification standards needed for livestream hosts, experts say

Internet and legal professionals are calling for the country to classify livestreaming hosts and clarify the qualifications needed in order to reduce vulgar content.

They also said livestreaming platform operators or internet enterprises should take more responsibility for improving the quality of online content to ensure healthy and sustainable development.

Their comments came after a recent crackdown led by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the nation's top internet watchdog, found that 10 of 31 livestreaming platforms, including gaming site Douyu and video-sharing platform Bilibili, were spreading vulgar content.

The problematic hosts and platforms have received administrative punishment, such as being blacklisted and barred from updating for a period of time, the administration said in a statement released last month.

Similar crackdowns have been launched over the past few years.

However, "I don't think online vulgarity can be solved only in this way, especially when the industry is growing rapidly," said Wang Sixin, a professor specializing in internet rules and laws at Communication University of China.

By March, the number of livestreaming users reached 560 million, 163 million more than in December 2018, with most of the content they accessed being related to gaming, e-commerce and reality shows, the China Internet Network Information Center said in a report issued in April.

Wang said most platforms or operators are reluctant to deal with reports of vulgar content because problematic livestreaming hosts with many followers can help them attract views, "and views mean profit".

"That's why the vulgar content repeatedly appears or is hard to clean up, until it's reported to the cyberspace administration," he said.

Meanwhile, authorities cannot constantly monitor the livestreaming industry, and lightly punishing hosts is a temporary solution, "so some hosts can continue spreading improper content by opening a new account or moving to another platform", he added.

Wang said a better solution would be to demand that internet operators assume more responsibility for the quality of the content on their platforms, with stricter rules for livestreaming hosts.

Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center at China University of Political Science and Law, agreed.

"Everyone can register as a user on livestreaming platforms, but not all of them can become a livestreaming host," he said.

"That is to say, being a livestreaming host not only needs identity verification in line with our country's real-name cyberspace registration system, but also some other requirements or qualifications.

"For example, a host, I think, should be aware of livestreaming platform rules issued by the administration and should not have a criminal record."

In addition, he suggested the authorities introduce a classification system for managing livestreaming hosts.

"If a host is reported or punished for spreading improper information, such as vulgar content, he or she may be downgraded on the livestreaming platform," Zhu said. "If they do well, they can also be rewarded.

"In other words, we need to manage hosts according to different levels, imposing viewer limits on problematic ones and providing more development space for those with high-quality content.

"The pains and gains, or rights and duties of a low-level host, such as the ones with 10,000 followers, should also be different from high-level ones, such as those with millions of viewers."

If the levels or qualification standards of hosts can be clarified and regulated by authorities, supervision of livestreaming platforms will be more effective, he added.

The administration, the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications and six other departments launched a half-year campaign to crack down on illegal livestreaming platforms and standardize the industry in early June, with the administration also saying it was exploring the implementation of management based on ratings and categories as well as rules for online rewards to build a healthier environment for livestreaming.