SAPPRFT Announces Regulations on Live Streaming Management

On September 9, The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) reaffirmed that all Internet-related audiovisual programming and live streaming services must be in line with existing regulations, making reference to the “Notice on Strengthening Internet Audiovisual Programming and Live Streaming Service Management and Related Issues," which has not yet been released to the public.

The notice requires that live streaming business should follow the "Administrative Measures on Internet Audiovisual Programming Service" and "Internet Audiovisual Programming Services Business Classification Catalog", which requires that organizations and individuals obtain licenses according to program type.

Programming on news, political, economic, societal, or military related issues and more general cultural events will need specific "audiovisual licenses". Other noteworthy requirements include, (1) Live streaming platforms are responsible for monitoring the content; (2) Those organizations or individuals that do not hold an “audiovisual license” are prohibited from holding news, art, sports, talk shows, or debate programming. (3) Organizations should have the appropriate technical, personnel, and management resources and the ability to audit content to ensure security. This process should be conducted before going online and a show notice should be submitted to the provincial-level SAPPRFT department; (4) Those who have not attained licensed approval may not use such words like "TV" "Radio" in the Internet. Additionally, organizations are also responsible for monitoring the contents of any live chat that occurs simultaneously during broadcasting.

Back in July, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) announced a similar regulation in order to monitor the content of commercial websites. This particular notice required news editor to take full responsibility for content output and called for the establishment of special content auditor teams. Those recent policies are good indicators for a broader government-wide push to get a tighter grasp on content management.