Chinese police have arrested the founder of Tencent-backed game-streaming site DouYu on suspicion of operating a casino, in a rare case of holding a tech entrepreneur criminally responsible for activity on their company’s media platform. Police in the small southwestern city of Dujiangyan on Wednesday confirmed they had arrested a 39-year-old man with the surname Chen, a day after DouYu said its chief executive and chair Chen Shaojie had been arrested by police on November 16.
The Financial Times previously reported that Chen had been taken away by the Chinese authorities in October as police probed pornography and gambling on DouYu’s platform. Gambling is illegal on the Chinese mainland.
Since founding DouYu in 2014, Chen has built the company into one of China’s leading game-streaming and esports brands. He has faced challenges more recently, including a failed plan by main backer Tencent to merge the group with rival Huya, and a tough crackdown by Beijing on livestreaming sites.