Chinese regulators to oversee rectification of livestreaming platform DouYu

China's top internet regulator has dispatched a team of officials to livestreaming platform DouYu to oversee a month-long rectification effort to address serious problems such as pornographic and vulgar content, according to media reports on Monday. 

The Cyberspace Administration of China has instructed the local cyberspace administration of Central China’s Hubei Province to send a working team to DouYu to carry out a one-month centralized rectification supervision, the Securities Times reported. 

The rectification is aimed at addressing serious problems such as pornography and vulgarity on the DouYu platform, according to the Securities Times report. 

Headquartered in Wuhan, Hubei, DouYu is a leading game-centric live streaming platform in China and a pioneer in the esports value chain. The firm’s shares are listed on NASDAQ. Following the news on Monday, DouYu’s shares fell in pre-market trading, losing as much as 14 percent at one point, according to the Securities Times. 

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the firm reported total net revenue of 1,681.1 million yuan ($243.7 million) compared with 2,327.9 million yuan in the same period of 2021, according to its latest financial report. Gross profit in the fourth quarter of 2022 dropped to 186.1 million yuan from 244.7 million yuan in the same period of 2021.

The firm is scheduled to report its financial results for the first quarter of 2023 on May 18. 

The firm’s shares have been falling steadily this year and were down 18 percent as of Friday from the start of the year.