Li Jiaqi, Dubbed the "Lipstick King," livestreams reviews of lipsticks in Shanghai in January, 2018. Photo: VCG

Live streaming celebrity anchor Li Jiaqi on Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao, whose sales reached nearly 37 million yuan during the recent Double 11 shopping spree, apologized Wednesday for misleading consumers amid criticism over false advertising. 

We mistakenly sold the "Yangcheng Zhuangyuan (No. 1 scholar) hairy crab" on September 9 via live stream as "Yangchenghu crab," read a statement from Li's team released on Sina Weibo. 

The team apologized for the mistake and said they are in talks with producers to address the issue. They also said they would take full responsibility for customer complaints. 

Yangchenghu Lake in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province, is famous for its hairy crabs. 

However, customers who bought hairy crabs from Li's live streaming show last month took to social media claiming they received crabs that were too small, did not have meat on them, and came from places other than Suzhou. 

The hashtag "#Lijaiqiallegedofmisleadingadvertising" had over 580 million hits Wednesday night.  

This isn't the first time Li has been embroiled into such controversy. During a livestreaming show, also last month, Li promoted a non-stick frying pan that he claimed was "definitely good." 

When the assistant tried to fry eggs with it, they stuck to the surface. Li explained that it was because the assistant didn't use enough oil. 

Chinese netizens joked that Li, the so-called No. 1 anchor on Taobao livestreaming platform, has "Met his first Waterloo."

Li is famous in China for creating many sales miracles like selling 15,000 lipstick tubes in 15 minutes, and 5,000 essence products, generating 6 million yuan in three minutes. 

The controversy, together with Double 11 on Monday, has placed the spotlight on not only Li, but also on livestreaming sales anchors in China. The group has become a major driving force behind China's e-commerce.  

Alibaba's Tmall reached 268.4 billion yuan ($38.3billion), eclipsing last year's total sales of 213.5 billion on Monday. The figure is larger than last year's GDP of more than 100 countries, including Estonia, Iceland, and Cambodia, according to World Bank data.

Livestreaming has become a main platform for Taobao in the sales battle. According to media reports, in the first 63 minutes of Monday, deals made through Taobao livestreaming shows had exceeded that of the entire day from last year's Singles' Day. In less than nine hours, sales volume generated through live streaming had reached 10 billion yuan. 

According to Beijing News, live streaming hosts charge 6,000-13,000 yuan an hour to advertise for producers and charge a 20 percent sales commission. 

Experts have called for regulations on advertising on livestreaming platforms, noting that some anchors promote unbranded products for financial gain, some of which are harmful for consumers, and include health care and medical products.

"Supervision authorities should enhance the management on the platforms. They could set up special complaint channels for customers to buy goods on these platforms," Chen Wei, a Beijing-based lawyer told the Beijing News.