In recent years, there has been a frequent occurrence of chaotic live streaming tipping on the mainland, leading to many families being affected. In Beijing, a businessman had accumulated over 17 million yuan in tips for a female anchor over a period of more than two years. After his wife discovered this, she took the anchor, the management company, and the live streaming platform to court. However, the court ultimately only ruled to return half of the amount, sparking public attention.
According to reports from mainland China, a high-value tipping dispute case was recently concluded at the Chaoyang District Court in Beijing. The plaintiff, Mr. Wang, operates a business in Beijing while his wife and children reside in Harbin. Starting from November 2018, Mr. Wang became obsessed with a female anchor on a live streaming platform named Yang and began tipping her large amounts regularly.
In June 2019, Yang took the initiative to meet Mr. Wang in Beijing and they established a romantic relationship. During their interaction, Yang often demanded high tips from Mr. Wang citing reasons such as “maintaining rank” and “boosting popularity.” She would complain if the tips did not meet her expectations, exerting pressure in this manner.
As a result, Mr. Wang’s tipping amount increased to over a million yuan for five consecutive months, with the highest monthly tip exceeding 3.4 million yuan, making him the top tipper in the live stream room. When Mr. Wang’s wife, Mrs. Li, discovered this, she took legal action against Yang, her management company, and the live streaming platform, seeking a refund.
Data from the backend of the live streaming platform showed that Mr. Wang had recharged over 7,500 times and tipped over 440,000 times, with a total amount exceeding 17 million yuan over the course of more than two years.
However, the court ruled that the tips made before their romantic relationship was established were considered “normal consumption” and did not require a refund, while the tips made after their relationship was deemed against public order and morals, making the actions invalid. The court also criticized the live streaming platform for failing to regulate the anchors and failing in their duty by not alerting or restricting excessive tipping. As a result, the court ruled for the platform to refund 7.875 million yuan.
The court’s decision sparked discussions online. Many netizens expressed sentiments like, “Even if only half is returned, it’s still a loss,” “The female anchor should also return the money,” and “The key issue is that the platform also takes a commission, so they wouldn’t restrict it.” Some criticized the platforms as fraudulent venues and suggested directly eliminating tipping as the best solution.
In mainland China, the chaotic phenomenon of live streaming tipping is becoming increasingly common.
On May 28, 2026, a 70-year-old woman named Jiang from Shanghai was reported to have spent over 3.36 million yuan tipping a male anchor within a mere four and a half months, depleting her son’s savings until the account had only 0.43 yuan left. She later described herself as being “spellbound.”
On April 20, 2026, a 19-year-old girl in Zhengzhou, Henan province, was exposed for embezzling over 17 million yuan from her father to tip platform anchors in order to become the top tipper, leading to her father’s company on the brink of bankruptcy. This event became a hot topic, attracting widespread attention and discussions.
In 2017, a 14-year-old boy in Guangzhou spent all of the 160,000 yuan his parents had saved from years of hard work within two months to tip a female anchor.
In May 2017, Mr. Miao, suffering from terminal ascites in Henan province, required nearly ten thousand yuan per month for medication. However, his 13-year-old son, addicted to online live streaming, tipped 24,000 yuan—his father’s life-saving money—to a dancing instructor anchor.