Chinese cops arrested 20 for livestreaming porn

MANILA, Philippines — Chinese police have arrested 20 people, including two main suspects in the Philippines, for operating a pornographic livestreaming app that attracted one million users.

A South China Morning Post report said mainland online news outlet The Paper reported that 20 people from a cross-border group were accused of operating illegal livestreaming platforms to broadcast pornographic content.

Police in Macheng in central China’s Hubei province arrested the last two main suspects, a man surnamed Hong and a woman surnamed Li, in the Philippines on April 26 after an investigation for more than a year.

A photo of the two arrested showed them wearing a jacket with designs and colors similar to the Philippine flag.

“Chinese police arrest 20 over pornographic live-streaming app that attracted 1 million users. IS THAT OUR FLAG? PATRIOTIC PORNOGRAPHERS! I LOVE IT,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. tweeted.

China has launched campaigns against pornographic and illegal publications, and illicit cultural content to foster a “positive” and “healthy” cultural environment.

Eighteen were arrested by April 2018 across China. Mongolia-based Hong, company owner in Shanghai focusing on developing video games before turning to pornographic live streaming, reportedly fled to South Korea, then to the Philippines, where he met Li and both built a similar app.

Live streamers gave erotic performances on the Huahua platform, with the most popular streamers getting more than 2,000 viewers at a time and users able to make requests by paying up to almost 2,000 yuan ($290), according to the report.