A top Chinese live-streamer has been handed a 1.34 billion yuan ($210m; £160m) fine for tax evasion.
Huang Wei, known as Viya, is an internet celebrity with tens of millions of followers. She has used her platform to sell a variety of products. Authorities in Hangzhou accuse her of hiding her personal income as well as other financial offences between 2019 and 2020. In a post on her Weibo account, she stated that she was “deeply sorry.” The post stated, “I thoroughly accept the punishment made by the tax authorities.”
The 36-year-old has become a major internet celebrity in China, fuelled by the meteoric growth of online shopping. She is known as the country’s “live-streaming queen” and has sold everything from noodles to a commercial rocket launch on the online shopping Taobao platform. Viya was supposed to host a cosmetics sales event on Monday evening before her streaming account went offline.
However, the tide quickly changed against her in the light of her huge fine for tax evasion. One of the top hashtags on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo is #ViyaCompletelyBlockedOnline as outlets seek to remove her presence. Her Weibo account, where she had 18 million followers, no longer exists and media reports suggest her account on the eBay-like Taobao shopping platform has also been suspended. The Global Times newspaper states that her penalty serves as a “warning to others.” There are however signs for the past month that China has bee seeking to reform the industry.
