East Buy APP Photo: VCG

Livestreaming platform East Buy Holding Ltd apologized on Monday for one anchor's "serious mistakes" in his words and actions during a livestream event, in which the anchor said that September 18 is "a good day", triggering a wide discussion among Chinese netizens on strengthening regulations governing the booming livestreaming industry.

Zhong Can made his first livestreaming on September 18, 2022. During an interaction with netizens recently, he referred to the day of his first livestreaming as a "good day." Realizing his mistake, he immediately apologized to the audience. After the livestreaming ended that day, both the anchor and the operations team reflected on and reviewed the incident, the company said via its official Weibo account on Monday.

The company also released an entire video of the livestreaming event to show that the anchor was a slip of the tongue.

September 18 is an unforgettable day on the Chinese calendar. On September 18, 1931, Japanese troops blew up a section of railway under their control near Shenyang and accused Chinese troops of sabotage as a pretext for the attack. Later that night, they bombarded barracks near Shenyang, starting the bloody invasion.

"For the serious mistakes made by the anchor in his words and actions, we will continue to strengthen education, and treat this as a lesson, to enhance internal ideological education. We are ready to accept the supervision of netizens and sincerely apologize," read the notice released by the company.

Some netizens stood behind the anchor and argued that everyone has faced the situation of being caught on their feet. "The anchor realized the problem in time, and immediately apologized to reflect on it," one netizen wrote, adding that the mistakes have been exaggerated and interpreted maliciously.

In the context when he made the remarks, he was saying that it was a good day as it was his first day livestreaming about one year ago, an industry commentator said via his WeChat Moment on Monday.

However, some netizens expressed their disagreement that why he would make such kind of mistake and anchors should receive more education. As an anchor, they should pay more attention on their words and deeds as they will bring influence to the society, and positive energy is needed to encourage more young people, several netizens commented.

With the booming development of the livestreaming industry, regulators have also made efforts to regulate the industry to make it develop in a healthy manner. On the same day, another makeup influencer Li Jiaqi also apologized for his "inappropriate remarks," when a netizen complained that a domestic-brand eyebrow pencil was "too expensive," which triggered a heated discussion online.

East Buy Holding Ltd is a subsidiary of New Oriental, with a focus on selecting premium products for customers.

New Oriental founder Yu Minhong previously also apologized for inappropriate words involving the business operation modes as other online platform selected one anchor's short videos to sell products.

Global Times