--- description: Huang Wei—also known as Viya—was ordered to pay 1.34 billion yuan as China steps up on its crackdown on online influencers. title: Viya, China's Top Influencer, Fined $210 Million for Tax Evasion image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda54ac90583c9c50/698a20f0db29877378267534/huang-wei-viya-china.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [China](/tag/china/) ## China Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Viya, China’s Most Popular Influencer, Fined $210 Million for Tax Evasion ## Video: 2021: A Year in Review [Watch (HLS stream): 2021: A Year in Review](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3EOATB2d.m3u8) (2:08)  _Published 2021-12-10. At the close of 2021, we continue to wrestle with the reality of COVID-19’s impact on everything from the global economy to our holiday traditions, but we have learned that humanity can rise above._ by [Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 21, 2021 9:28 AM CUT  Livestreamer Huang Wei, known professionally as Viya, prepares to sample a bowl of food during a special livestreaming event arranged by Qianxun Group in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on Thursday, April 30, 2020\. She was ordered to pay 1.34 billion yuan ($210 million) in back taxes, late fees and fines, the State Taxation Administration said in a Dec. 20, 2021 statement. Livestreamer Huang Wei, known professionally as Viya, prepares to sample a bowl of food during a special livestreaming event arranged by Qianxun Group in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on Thursday, April 30, 2020\. She was ordered to pay 1.34 billion yuan ($210 million) in back taxes, late fees and fines, the State Taxation Administration said in a Dec. 20, 2021 statement.Qilai Shen—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 21, 2021 9:28 AM CUT China slapped an unprecedented $210 million fine on a top livestreamer for tax evasion, stepping up President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on online influencers who have grown wildly popular in recent years. Huang Wei — also known as Viya — was ordered to pay 1.34 billion yuan in back taxes, late fees and fines, the State Taxation Administration said Monday in a [statement](http://www.chinatax.gov.cn/chinatax/n810219/c102025/c5171503/content.html "undefined") on its website. She avoided taxes totaling 643 million yuan by concealing personal income and making false declarations in 2019 and 2020, the statement added. Shares in China’s largest livestreaming operators and services plunged in New York, with Bilibili Inc. diving 11.6%, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. falling 5.8% and Joyy Inc. sliding 4.7%. Huang issued an apology just after the punishment was announced, [saying](https://m.weibo.cn/status/4716530204154344?wm=3333%5F2001&from=10AC293010&sourcetype=weixin&featurecode=newtitle "undefined") on her Twitter-like Weibo account that she felt “deeply guilty.” “I totally accept the decision of the tax regulator and will actively collect funds to pay the fines within the deadline,” she wrote. Viya’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The fine is the biggest yet for online salespeople like Viya, who each night compete to convince shoppers to spend millions of dollars on items such as cosmetics, appliances and clothing. The influencer is one of the biggest stars on Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace, drawing traffic and driving consumption. Government departments need to better coordinate and boost efforts to regulate the livestreaming industry and crack down on tax evasion, the official Xinhua News Agency said in a report Tuesday. Using data analysis, the tax bureau in the city of Hangzhou suspected Huang had evaded taxes, and she failed to rectify the situation after repeated reminders, the report said. The episode signals Beijing is turning its attention to the online streaming commerce arena, which has thrived with little regulation in recent years, as part of Xi’s [common prosperity](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-03/what-common-prosperity-means-and-why-xi-wants-it-quicktake "undefined") drive to share the wealth. The high-profile case may spook merchants and brands who rely on the format to drive sales, not just at Alibaba but across a number of its rivals’ platforms. --- ### More from TIME --- In September, the tax authorities announced tougher [rules](http://www.chinatax.gov.cn/chinatax/n810219/n810780/c5169226/content.html "undefined") covering celebrities and livestreamers, and last month two of the salespeople were fined a total of $15 million for income tax evasion. The Taobao and Weibo pages for Zhu Chenhui and Lin Shanshan are both blank now. Livestreaming is part variety show, part infomercial and part group chat — a format pioneered in China that has grown more popular since the pandemic started. Livestreaming sales are expected to reach more than 1.2 trillion yuan this year, up from just 19 billion yuan in 2017, according to the research firm [iiMedia](https://www.iimedia.cn/c1061/77074.html "undefined"). Viya had total sales of more than 31 billion yuan in 2020, the most among her peers, the tech media outlet 36kr.com [reported](https://www.36kr.com/p/1025269536131075 "undefined") earlier. Her fine is bigger than the one [levied](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-03/china-fines-actress-fan-bingbing-in-months-long-tax-evasion-case "undefined") on actress Fan Bingbing in 2018, which marked the start of the government’s campaign to rein in the entertainment industry. Fan and companies she was affiliated with were ordered to pay about 884 million yuan in back taxes and fines. Fan has largely disappeared from the entertainment scene since her punishment. Such high-profile rebukes from the central government usually spell the end of a celebrity’s career. “Everyone is equal before the law, there is no ‘superstar’ or ‘rich and powerful,’ no one can despise the law and hope to be lucky,” the official Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary about Fan. _–With assistance from Yujing Liu._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6130595/viya-china-fined/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6130595/viya-china-fined/"},"headline":"Viya, China’s Most Popular Influencer, Fined $210 Million for Tax Evasion","datePublished":"2021-12-21T09:28:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T10:40:07.263Z","description":"Huang Wei—also known as Viya—was ordered to pay 1.34 billion yuan as China steps up on its crackdown on online influencers","url":"https://time.com/6130595/viya-china-fined/","keywords":["China","wire","overnight","bloomberg wire"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda54ac90583c9c50/698a20f0db29877378267534/huang-wei-viya-china.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bloomberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/bloomberg/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda54ac90583c9c50/698a20f0db29877378267534/huang-wei-viya-china.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"huang-wei-viya-china","caption":"huang-wei-viya-china","creditText":"Qilai Shen—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/china/","name":"China"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6130595/viya-china-fined/","name":"Viya, China’s Most Popular Influencer, Fined $210 Million for Tax Evasion"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"2021: A Year in Review","description":"At the close of 2021, we continue to wrestle with the reality of COVID-19’s impact on everything from the global economy to our holiday traditions, but we have learned that humanity can rise above.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/3EOATB2d/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2021-12-10T18:26:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3EOATB2d.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6130595/viya-china-fined/","duration":"PT2M8S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6130595/viya-china-fined/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```