A screenshot of a video where a man takes the money back from the villagers in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province. [Photo: thepaper.cn]

Investigations into live streaming after misleading behaviour from content creators have been opened by local police and administration of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, thepaper.cn reports.

A video released online show two men live streaming on kuaishou.com as they distribute money to villagers in one of the poorest counties in Liangshan Prefecture. After they shot the video, however, they took the money back from the villagers.

The plot thickens, however, as one of the two men in the video above is famous for revealing such deceit from other live streaming creators. In this instance, the other competitors secretly recorded what he did after live streaming to catch him out.

The catch is that live streaming creators can earn money through the service, as the audience sends them gifts. Providing sensationalised content can draw in more followers. The man in question has over 600,000 followers and later admitted his behavior was an attempt to get more views and followers.

Hou Liang, a lawyer from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, says that if the investigations confirm that the creators disseminated fake information in order to increase followers and income, then the content creators are involved in suspected fraud. Not only can the content creators face administrative punishment or detention, but the live streaming app can also be held accountable for ineffective supervision. In addition, since the gifts sent to the live streaming creators are paid for by the followers, they will have the right to claim their loss by reporting it to police.

A long-term charity worker in Liangshan prefecture was concerned that the video taken in the prefecture will have a negative influence on the honest charities in the region.

This is not the only case where content creators have deceived the followers. Regulations have recently come into place in China to deal with the issues.

Last Friday, the Cyberspace Administration of China released regulations for live streaming services banning any use that might undermine national security, destabilize society, disturb the social order, infringe upon others' legitimate rights and interests, or disseminate obscene content.

In addition, using live streaming services to make, replicate, release and disseminate information banned by laws and regulations is prohibited.

It also orders service providers and content releasers to obtain qualifications and act according to the rules.

For the live streaming of news, service providers are obliged to censor the content before releasing it. Service providers should be well-staffed and have the technical ability to stop live streaming at once if needed.

The regulations will take effect on December 1.