China clamps down on popular online live-streaming services

China's media regulators are clamping down on the booming live-streaming industry.

The official Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday that media regulators are requiring social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo to obtain licenses to broadcast video or audio. The report came a week after the Ministry of Culture issued rules requiring streaming operators to submit identity papers for their stars and prove that they can censor inappropriate content.

Researchers say nearly half of China's internet users in 2016 used streaming apps to watch people singing, pulling stunts or simply going about their everyday lives — and sometimes more.

Several high-profile cases of live-streamed sex have caused uproar, while a Beijing couple became a sensation when they streamed themselves hiding overnight in an IKEA store.