Thousands of illegal live streaming accounts shut down in China as new regulations come in place

Beijing-based live streaming websites have shut down thousands of illegal accounts after new regulations by Chinese internet authorities guarding against violent and obscene content came into effect, the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. The Cyber Administration of China (CAC) formalized controversial rules regulating the country’s fast-growing live-streaming video industry in November, in a move that stripped out smaller competitors and placed hard-line surveillance measures on leading firms. More than 4,500 accounts on Beijing-based websites had been closed and more than 3,100 live streaming programs had been shut, Xinhua reported the CAC as saying. “Reports of violent, obscene and vulgar content on live- streaming websites abound,” Xinhua said. The new rules, which came into effect on Thursday, require streaming services to provide information on users who stream content the government deems a threat to national security or social order. CAC officials said they would enhance regulations further and called on the public to engage in supervising the internet. This comes right after the adoption of the critical cyber law in the country which saw a lot of protests across the world.  Overseas critics of the law argue it threatens to shut foreign technology companies out of various sectors deemed “critical”, and includes contentious requirements for security reviews and for data to be stored on servers located in China. Rights advocates also say the law will enhance restrictions on China’s internet, already subject to the world’s most sophisticated online censorship mechanism, known outside the country as the Great Firewall. With inputs from Reuters