Chinese man jailed for faking livestream views using 4,600 phones
By Bryan Ke
A man in China’s Zhejiang province has been jailed for manipulating livestream views, a scheme that earned him hundreds of thousands of dollars in a just few months.
Key points:
- The man, identified by his surname Wang, was sentenced to a year and three months in jail and fined 50,000 yuan (approximately $6,900) for “illegal business operations.”
- The Yinzhou District People’s Procuratorate in Zhejiang province shared the details of the case on April 17.
- The sentencing reportedly marked the first time someone was punished for fraudulent livestreaming in Zhejiang, which many consider to be the center of China’s livestreaming industry.
The details:
- Wang’s illegal business started in late 2022 after a friend informed him about the practice known as “brushing,” as per the South China Morning Post. This entails using fake accounts to boost a livestream’s real-time engagement metrics — including views, likes and comments — which would later attract more legitimate viewership.
- In his confession, Wang admitted to procuring 4,600 smartphones controlled by specialized cloud software. He also bought VPN services and other equipment for his business.
- Wang said each phone generated 6.65 yuan (less than $1) per day. But in just four months of operation, he made 3 million yuan (about $415,000) from his two studios.
- Wang bought fake viewer accounts in bulk. While he occasionally encountered problems during registration, he managed to re-register them with ease.
- Aside from Wang, 17 other people are under investigation for related offenses. Ten have already been convicted, according to the Qianjiang Evening News.
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