China fines influencer agency Three Sheep US$9.8 million for ‘made in Hong Kong’ mooncakes
Controversies erupted after influencer Crazy Little Brother Yang falsely promoted mooncakes he sold as shipped from Hong Kong
The market regulator of Hefei, capital of eastern Anhui province, on Thursday ordered the influencer agency to suspend its live-commerce operations, which sell products online through live-streamed sessions.
Three Sheep apologised for “falsely advertising and misleading consumers” and vowed to “conduct thorough rectifications within the company”, according to a statement published on Thursday on the company’s official account on Douyin, the Chinese sibling of TikTok.
Founded by Zhang Qingyang – better known by his online name Crazy Little Brother Yang, or Crazy Xiaoyangge – Three Sheep has nurtured some of China’s biggest short-video stars. In 2022, Zhang became the first influencer in the country to reach 100 million followers on Douyin. He earned an estimated 3.12 billion yuan last year, surpassing his peers, according to a list published by the Guangdong E-commerce Summit Forum.
The penalty handed down this week included a fine, as well as an undisclosed sum of seized illegal income, authorities said.
Controversies around Zhang and his agency erupted earlier this month after he started promoting “Hong Kong Meisun Mooncakes”, calling it a “high-end brand” from Hong Kong dating back to more than two decades ago. It later emerged that the maker of those mooncakes, Guangzhou Meisun Food Company, was not registered in Hong Kong. Neither were its products ever sold in the city.
