An influencer tragically died after drinking excessive amounts of alcohol on a livestream.
It is becoming increasingly popular for people to push themselves to dangerous limits on social media, particularly for those who livestream.
In China, there have been several deaths linked to the matter.
In 2019, a content creator called Sun participated in livestream challenges where he would eat and drink different things.
He reportedly died after drinking large amounts of alcohol and eating mealworms, poisonous centipedes, and geckos.
A food influencer named Pan Xiaoting recently passed away during a mukbang livestream. She reportedly gorged on food like chocolate, chicken fingers, and seafood.
Her cause of death is believed to be ‘overeating.’
China is reportedly cracking down on certain activities in livestreams, with there being 31 categories of content that shouldn’t appear in videos, such as violence, religious teachings, and flaunting wealth.
Scrutiny regarding the safety and regulation of social media apps intensified following the death of an influencer known as Brother Three Thousand, whose last name was disclosed as Wang by local media.
On May 16, 2023, the 34-year-old livestreamer participated in four one-on-one battles – a challenge known as PK – on the Chinese social media platform Douyin, involving whoever received the most gifts from fans winning, reports the BBC.
Brother Three Thousand reportedly lost three of the rounds, after which he consumed baijiu, a Chinese spirit with a typical alcohol content of between 30-60 percent, per CNN.
The content creator ended his livestream after midnight and was found dead the following afternoon, his friend told the local media.
His friend Zhao told Shangyou News: “When his family found him, he was already gone, he didn’t even get a chance for emergency treatment.”
Douyin bans its users from drinking during livestreams and already, Wang had been banned from the app.
Chinese media reports that he got around this by opening new accounts.
His friend described him as a ‘decent and straightforward person,’ who would frequently share clips of himself taking part in similar challenges.
Wang was not the only content creator to die from drinking excessive alcohol on the app.
Brother Huang, who had 176,000 social media followers, died a month later after reportedly downing baijiu.
His wife, surnamed Li, said her husband was trying to earn money through livestreams to repay debts from before their marriage, reports The Strait Times.
Local media outlet Southern Metropolis Daily reports that Huang and Wang knew each other.
