Crackdown Cuts Bizarre and Abusive Livestreams in Bucheon

Local government crackdowns on extreme and nuisance livestreams—featuring creators cursing at pedestrians or performing bizarre dances—have led to a sharp drop in provocative broadcasting levels.

Bucheon City, Gyeonggi Province, announced that bizarre streaming activities have decreased over the past year following its declaration of a strong response policy against nuisance YouTubers around Bucheon Station.

According to Bucheon City, public petitions filed through the e-People portal regarding personal broadcasting around Bucheon Station totaled 22 cases in the first half of this year, marking a 71.4% drop from the 77 cases recorded in the second half of last year.

The city explained that while monitoring showed a slight increase in outdoor broadcasting personnel during the summer months, nuisance broadcasts and high-risk behaviors that cause harm to citizens were not observed.

The city stated that it continues to maintain a cooperative system with the police to prepare for potential incidents when large numbers of personal broadcasting personnel gather.

Around Bucheon Station, malicious YouTubers had been running rampant since 2022, generating profits by live-streaming themselves performing bizarre dances, unabashedly hurling insults at merchants and pedestrians, and mocking dispatched police officers.

Online users even dubbed them "Bucheon power lines" because they would set up phone stands and sit in rows around the plaza, resembling crows perched on power lines.

Concluding that the extreme broadcasts by certain YouTubers in the Bucheon Station area were severely damaging the city brand image and inflicting massive harm on merchants and citizens, Bucheon City held a meeting at Bucheon Station on September 30 of last year to announce its firm stance on a strict crackdown.

Police also responded firmly by sending YouTubers engaging in illegal acts to prosecutors with detention, including the arrest and forwarding in June of YouTuber A, who has 500,000 subscribers, on charges including defamation, insult, and special intimidation.

(Photo provided by Bucheon City, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.