China’s top cyberspace governance body has introduced a sweeping set of new regulatory requirements for livestream tipping services, aiming to bring greater transparency to the fast-growing online streaming sector and strengthen protections for underage users, the regulator announced in an official notice published on Monday.
The Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission laid out 11 specific mandates that all major online platforms offering livestream services must follow to govern commercial monetization through viewer tipping, a practice that has generated billions in revenue for platforms and content creators but also drawn widespread criticism over exploitative practices and youth overspending.
Under the new framework, platforms that provide top-up services, host viewer tipping, publish creator popularity ranking lists, or design interactive monetization features are required to publish clear, straightforward terms of service that are easily accessible to all users. The rules explicitly ban platforms from hiding critical fee and tipping details behind multiple redirects or burying them in overly long, jargon-heavy user agreements that confuse consumers about the costs of their actions.
The regulator also introduced strict penalties for violators that break tipping-related rules. For livestream accounts that have previously committed violations and had their monetization privileges revoked, a three-month waiting period after the conclusion of their initial punishment must pass before privileges can be restored. If an account is temporarily muted for rule-breaking, its ability to earn revenue through viewer tipping must remain suspended for a period two to three times longer than the original mute penalty.
Additional user privacy protections are also included in the new rules. Platforms are prohibited from publicly sharing individual users’ tipping, top-up and gift purchase spending data without explicit prior consent from the user. Platforms are also required to step up content moderation for tipping-related interactions, banning any illegal or harmful content tied to tipping, and outlawing manipulative practices designed to induce unnecessary spending, such as offering cash-back rewards for tipping, artificially inflating tipping totals through creator self-tipping, and other misleading tactics.
A core focus of the new regulation is enhanced protection for minor users, who are considered particularly vulnerable to overspending and manipulation in livestream environments. The new rules implement a tiered system of protections: children under the age of 8 are completely barred from accessing any livestream tipping services, while minors between 8 and 16 years old can only use these services after platforms obtain explicit consent from a legal guardian. For 16- and 17-year-old minors, platforms must either secure guardian approval or verify that the minor has an independent source of income before granting access to tipping features.