Recently Released Livestreamers Guide Should Have Immaterial Impact on Our China Internet Coverage

On June 22, China’s National Radio and Television Administration and Ministry of Culture and Tourism released new regulations governing livestreaming, with guidelines that amount to a code of conduct for online livestreamers covering matters such as the qualifications required to livestream certain professional topics, for example medical and livestreamers’ tax liabilities. We believe there will be more specific responsibilities for internet audiovisual platforms, which could increase compliance costs. However, the regulations do not contain specific penalties if platforms are found to be negligent by the government, and we think performers face much greater risk. Article 15 and 16 of the regulations indicate the government will strengthen supervision and inspection as well as enforcement of rules for internet audiovisual platforms, agencies, and livestreaming hosts. If content and livestreamers violate these rules, platforms will need to deal with violations properly and quickly. Article 17 stipulates that internet performance, platforms, and agencies need to strictly adhere to statutory duties and obligations, enhance training and education, daily management, and guidance of standards for livestreamers. For example, internet hosts who commit serious or repetitive misconduct should be stopped and not allowed to conduct internet performance on another platform or use another account. We think that further regulations will be created if misconduct continues. At this stage, we expect the regulations will have an immaterial impact on the Chinese internet companies under our coverage. We maintain our fair value estimate, earnings estimates, moat and uncertainty ratings for Tencent Music, NetEase Cloud Music, Bilibili, Alibaba Health, JD Health, Alibaba, JD.com, and Pinduoduo.