The Cyberspace Administration of China has issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Standardized Management of Online Live Streaming Tips" and answered questions from reporters.

Each province, autonomous region, and municipality directly under the Central Government's Internet Information Office, as well as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Internet Information Office: In order to further strengthen the management of live streaming rewards, regulate profit-making behaviors in live streaming, promote the compliant and healthy operation of website platforms, and effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of netizens, the following work requirements are hereby notified: 1. Clearly specify the rules for rewards. Website platforms that provide users with rechargeable reward services, set ranking lists, design interactive gameplay, should establish clear rules and make them public in a direct and concise manner, without using methods such as multiple redirects or lengthy terms that may affect user understanding. 2. Regulate the opening of reward earning permissions. When applying for the opening of profit-making permissions for live streaming accounts, if there are records of violations, the permissions should be opened only after a 3-month disposal period. If a live streaming account is muted, its profit-making permissions should be temporarily suspended, for a duration 2 to 3 times the mute period. 3. Provide a reward limit function. When users initiate live streaming rewards for the first time, website platforms should proactively offer reward limit setting services, allowing users to set personal maximum amounts for single and daily rewards. If a user chooses to forego setting limits or modify their set limits, the website platform should confirm this through an appropriate method. 4. Provide a reward reminder function. Website platforms should reasonably set user reward reminder trigger conditions, reminder methods, and frequency, defaulting these functions to be enabled and allowing users to modify related settings themselves. If a user disables the reminder function, the website platform should confirm this through an appropriate method. 5. Regulate the ranking of reward amounts. Without the user's consent, website platforms should not publicly display user statistics regarding rechargeable rewards, gift purchases, etc. Reward amounts should not be the sole basis for ranking, channeling, recommending network hosts, or users. 6. Regulate reward interaction. Website platforms should strengthen reward interaction reviews, ensuring they do not contain illegal or harmful information, do not entice users to reward through methods such as cash back rewards, self-rewards, do not grant special protection permissions to reward users, and avoid disrupting the ecosystem of live streaming. 7. Improve the protection mechanism for minors. Website platforms should not provide reward services to children under eight years old. For children aged eight to sixteen, providing reward services should require consent from their legal guardians. For children aged sixteen and above, providing reward services should require consent from their legal guardians or verification of their income proof materials. If suspected minors are found using adult accounts to reward, necessary verification should take place and if indeed a minor is rewarding, appropriate measures should be taken immediately. 8. Establish a negative list of reward profit-making behaviors. Website platforms should establish and regularly update a negative list of live streaming reward profit-making behaviors according to legal requirements and moral standards. Before opening profit-making permissions for an account, the negative list should be informed to the account's registrant, and the platform's management rules, user agreements, etc., should clearly define the constraints and disposal measures for behaviors on the negative list. 9. Enhance identification and disposal of abnormal rewards. Website platforms should closely monitor abnormal reward behaviors by users and appropriately confirm with users. They should retain reward records lawfully and report any suspected illegal activities to relevant authorities in a timely manner. 10. Improve the complaints and reporting acceptance mechanism. Website platforms should establish a sound work mechanism to promptly handle complaints and disputes related to live streaming rewards. Following the principle most favorable to minors, they should properly manage refund disputes involving minors' rewards. 11. Increase enforcement and publicity efforts. Website platforms should establish a sound mechanism for routine governance of live streaming rewards, continuously crack down on irregular reward behaviors, and through the release of governance notices, public open letters, etc., regularly expose typical cases to warn network hosts to enhance self-discipline and guide users to consume rationally. Local internet information departments should effectively fulfill their territorial management responsibilities, supervise local website platforms to fulfill their primary responsibilities, designate relevant responsible persons, conduct self-inspections and self-corrections in accordance with the notification requirements, strengthen the management of live streaming rewards, optimize and improve live streaming reward functions, firmly curb the chaos of live streaming rewards, and promote the healthy development of the industry. Secretariat of the Central Cyberspace Administration April 4, 2026 Recently, the Secretariat of the Central Cyberspace Administration issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Standardized Management of Network Live Streaming Rewards". A relevant person from the Internet Comprehensive Governance Bureau of the Central Cyberspace Administration answered questions from reporters on the relevant issues of the "Notice". Question: What is the background of the issuance of the "Notice"? Rewarding is one of the main ways of profit-making in network live streaming. In recent years, with the development of the network live streaming industry, some operators of live streaming accounts have been engaging in issues such as inducing or deceiving rewards through vulgar content or false identities, resulting in strong public reactions. At the same time, some platforms have not standardized their reward functions and gameplay settings, and the management standards and criteria are inconsistent, making it difficult to effectively control the chaos of rewards. Therefore, it is necessary to timely introduce management policies to systematically regulate live streaming rewards, clarify regulatory requirements, unify standards and criteria, and promote the healthy development of the industry. Question: What is the overall train of thought behind the formulation of the "Notice"? When drafting the "Notice", three key aspects were emphasized: First, emphasis was placed on policy alignment, strictly benchmarking related laws and regulations, systematically reviewing policy documents related to live streaming rewards, ensuring that the content of the "Notice" complies with higher-level regulations and is coordinated with current policy requirements. Secondly, a problem-oriented approach was taken, focusing on issues such as inducing minors to reward and stimulating users' irrational rewards, proposing targeted management requirements to achieve targeted governance. Thirdly, a pragmatic and effective approach was taken, fully soliciting and absorbing opinions from local internet information departments and relevant website platforms, and deeply summarizing and solidifying the experiences from last year's "Clean-Up and Rectification of Live Streaming Reward Chaos" special action, making the content of the "Notice" in line with actual management practices and capable of effective implementation. Question: What are the main contents of the "Notice"? Focusing on strengthening the responsibilities of website platforms, the "Notice" makes clear provisions on rules formulation, function settings, permission opening, account management, and complaint acceptance related to live streaming rewards. It requires the establishment and public communication of reward rules, specifies the conditions that must be met for applying for profit-making permissions for live streaming accounts, calls for the provision of reward limit and reminder functions for users, regulates reward amount rankings and interactions, enhances protections for minors, establishes a negative list of reward profit-making behaviors, strengthens the identification of abnormal rewards, improves the complaints and reporting acceptance mechanism, and increases enforcement and publicity efforts on irregular reward behaviors. Question: What are the requirements regarding reward limits in the "Notice"? In response to the widely discussed issue of reward limits, the "Notice" advocates for rational consumption, considering that each user's actual situation and consumption needs may vary, there is no blanket restriction on reward limits. Instead, the "Notice" respects user consumption wishes and requires website platforms to provide reward limit and reminder functions for users, allowing users to set their own maximum amounts for single and daily rewards, set reward reminder methods and frequency, to protect consumer rights to the greatest extent. Question: What are the specific provisions in the "Notice" regarding reward function gameplay? Basing rankings of network hosts and users on reward amounts is a significant factor in stimulating users' irrational rewards. The "Notice" provides clear requirements regarding the display of user consumption statistics, as well as the ranking of network hosts and users based on reward amounts. It aims to curb irrational consumption and induced reward behaviors. Additionally, the "Notice" requires website platforms to strengthen reward interaction reviews, eliminate scenes that induce or stimulate irrational consumption, guide network hosts to shift from "asking for rewards" and "demanding gifts" to "focusing on content" and "showcasing talents", collectively maintaining a healthy live streaming ecosystem. Question: What new measures does the "Notice" propose regarding the protection of minors online? The issue of minors rewarding is a widely discussed issue in society. The "Notice" benchmarks Article 44 of the "Regulations on the Protection of Minors on the Internet" and the relevant definitions in the "Civil Code" regarding the legal capacity for minors to engage in civil activities, combined with the actual management of website platforms, it categorizes the provision of reward services to minors of different age groups, further promoting website platforms to improve prevention and control systems and enhance the effectiveness of child protection. At the same time, regarding issues of refunds related to rewards given by minors, the "Notice" requires website platforms to handle relevant disputes in accordance with the principle most favorable to minors. This article is reprinted from the WeChat public account "China Internet Information", Editor: Li Fo.