Chinese authorities have released new guidelines to regulate the country’s booming livestreaming industry that are due to be implemented by May 25.

The measures, jointly released by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and six other government bodies, including the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) and the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), set standards for livestreaming e-commerce platforms, operators and hosts.

They require livestreamers and operators to be at least 16 years old, or for minors under 16 to have the consent of a legal guardian, and ban fake advertising claims and data fraud (including bogus comments, likes, views and sales figures). They also put the onus on livestreaming platforms to handle complaints from consumers in a timely manner and to protect the personal information of their users.

China saw more than 24 million livestreaming marketing activities take place in 2020, but the explosive growth in the industry has been accompanied by complaints about some sellers boosting their own popularity and profits at the expense of consumer interests.