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Alice Yan

A social media account in China with more than 11 million followers which targets juveniles has been banned for forcing young female live-streamers to stay in a tank with a crocodile.
The permanent ban also came after the account was exposed of also having made the women hold their breath under water.
The account with the handle @Yebali, which means Night Paris in English, had been in operation on the social media platform for five years before it bowed to pressure to close, Jiupai News reported.
The “performances” involved groups of six to 10 young girl hosts, apparently below the age of 18.

This breaches Chinese law which forbids minors from hosting live-streams.
The channel’s recruitment advertisement for girl hosts around 14 years old went viral years ago, the report said.
In mid-April, several video clips extracted from the account’s live-streaming sessions held last year with its hosts being punished trended on mainland Chinese social media.
In one of the clips, two female hosts were told to stand in a tank while a small-sized crocodile with its mouth bound cruised nearby.
One of the girls remained calm while another was clearly frightened. She closely hugged the former girl, trying to avoid the reptile and screaming loudly.

“Why are you so fussy? It is such a lovely animal. After all, it will not bite you,” the first girl was heard saying in the video.
Another viral clip showed a girl hanging from a rope around her waist being lowered into the water tank. She was required to stay under water for several seconds.
When the girl refused to do it again, two girl hosts standing outside the tank pressed her head under the water.
“Just go down. Only three seconds. It is so easy,” one of them told the girl.
An angry father said the channel’s content could lead to dangerous copycat attempts.
“They also induced their followers to reward the girls. My daughter awarded them 9,600 yuan (US$1,400) at a time,” said the unidentified father.
According to other parent whistle-blowers, the account @Yebali was first opened by a Guangdong-based girl five years ago when she was only 13 years old.
She used her grandmother’s identity card to obtain live-streaming permission.
The channel is operated by Guangdong Jiahuo Media Company.

Last year, the same social media platform punished the channel for abusing its hosts. But the channel soon returned.
On April 23, the social media platform banned the account permanently amid public pressure.
One online observer said: “It should have been closed a long time ago. It is toxic for young children.”
In December, the central government’s Cyberspace Administration Office launched a campaign against such chaotic group live-streams.
The authorities said it was not uncommon for group live-streaming hosts to compete against each other for online traffic and rewards, often crossing moral boundaries.


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Distraught teenage girl has head forcibly pushed under water despite her pleas to stop; fellow live-streamers tell her ‘do not worry it will not bite you’


Distraught teenage girl has head forcibly pushed under water despite her pleas to stop; fellow live-streamers tell her ‘do not worry it will not bite you’.


Social media

Cyberspace Administration of China

China social media account banned for forcing women to stay in tank with crocodile

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Distraught teenage girl has head forcibly pushed under water despite her pleas to stop; fellow live-streamers tell her ‘do not worry it will not bite you’

Distraught teenage girl has head forcibly pushed under water despite her pleas to stop; fellow live-streamers tell her ‘do not worry it will not bite you’