Fake live broadcasts of Sun Yingsha's WTT Champions Montpellier semi-final against Wang Yidi were shown on Chinese short-video platforms more than five hours before the real match started, with hosts using invented scores to sell products, Chinese state media reported.

The investigation, by China Voice, a radio channel of the state broadcaster China Media Group, found that some of the streams drew more than 200,000 viewers. CCTV News carried the report, and it has since been picked up across China, Taiwan and South Korea.

How the streams worked

The semi-final was due to start at 6.45pm Beijing time on Sunday 1 November, 11.45am in Montpellier. At about 1pm Beijing time, several live rooms were already showing a tight game at 12-11 and a set point, according to the report.

Hosts laid audio from old matches under excited commentary and on-screen scoreboards with made-up scores. Some rooms passed off matches that had already been played as live; in others, the same player appeared to be facing different opponents in different rooms at the same moment.

Once enough viewers had stayed, the hosts turned to the shopping carts beside the stream, timing their pitches to set points and breaks in play. Products included pain-relief patches, soothing patches, shampoo and lutein eye drops, with one host offering a bundle for 9.9 yuan, a little over £1.

Reporters found that ordinary viewers could not post comments in the rooms, and said the messages praising the products and asking to buy more appeared to have been planted. One seller offered to "rent" followers so that an account could stream sport without holding broadcast rights.

Legal experts and the platforms

Zhao Zhanling, an internet law specialist, said presenting scripted content as live to keep fans watching and buying could amount to false advertising under China's Anti-Unfair Competition Law and Advertising Law. He said regulators could fine operators, confiscate their earnings and, in serious cases, suspend their live-streaming.

Song Hefa, deputy dean of the intellectual property school at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, said using another party's match footage or audio without permission was "copyright infringement", and that damages in malicious cases could be multiplied up to five times.

Customer service at one platform told reporters the case would be checked and any breach punished under its live-streaming rules. Rules on live e-commerce in force in China since 1 February require platforms to monitor live rooms and act on complaints.

Earlier cases

It is not the first time China's table tennis stars have been used in this way. CCTV has previously reported accounts that used AI voice cloning to imitate Sun, Wang Chuqin and the Olympic diving champion Quan Hongchan to sell farm produce and other goods, South Korea's Star News noted in its coverage of the latest case.

Legal experts quoted by World Journal advised viewers who believe they have been misled to keep screenshots and recordings and to complain to consumer protection bodies and to the rights holders.

What happened in Montpellier

In the real semi-final, Wang came from 3-0 down to level before Sun took the seventh game 11-2. Sun went on to beat Kuai Man 4-1 in the final the same evening, then withdrew from WTT Champions Frankfurt, where Wang Yidi began her campaign against Germany's Han Ying on Wednesday.