Nine men were summoned to a police station after livestreaming a “kidnapping” that turned out to be an online publicity stunt, a public security bureau announced Wednesday.
On Tuesday night, county-level police in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were alerted to a video on Kuaishou, one of China’s biggest livestreaming platforms, that appeared to show a person being kidnapped and beaten. Authorities soon discovered, however, that the abduction had been staged by a group of young men in a bid to go viral online. An investigation into the case is ongoing.
Livestreaming has grown into a highly profitable industry in China since 2015, but concerns have been raised over the outrageous stunts pulled by fame-hungry content creators. In January, an industry association issued a set of do’s and don’ts for livestreamers that included a recommendation against wearing “tightfitting, flesh-colored clothing.” (Image: VCG)