Louise Bernard, edited by Amani Dhifaoui
, modified at
10:10 a.m., December 22, 2021
Viya, a Chinese influencer star of live shopping, has just been completely erased from the net after a conviction for tax evasion. No trace of his online accounts since Tuesday, despite his 110 million subscribers. The Chinese authorities are increasingly targeting its own influencers.
Viya, a Chinese influencer has just been completely erased from the web. She is one of the Internet celebrities in China. The young woman disappeared from social networks on Tuesday, the day after a conviction for tax evasion. Viya had just been ordered to pay the Chinese state the equivalent of 210 million dollars, or 180 million euros. Since this conviction, his online accounts have not been found. The influencer star had 110 million subscribers there and her accounts were her main working tool.
Repression campaign against influencers
Viya is one of the stars of “live shopping”: live teleshopping on the Internet, a very widespread and successful practice in China. The 36-year-old host even stands out as one of the faces of the e-commerce site Taobao, a subsidiary of the giant Alibaba. According to the Chinese press, Viya alone had sold 1.8 billion euros worth of products in a single evening during the Singles’ Day, a kind of Chinese Black Friday held in November.
This digital disappearance would be attributable to the Chinese authorities. They are the ones who control and regulate the internet. Beijing is leading a crackdown on influencers. 20,000 accounts were also deleted in one year for having “disseminated erroneous content” and “polluting the internet”.