Weekend Long Read: How China’s Seniors Became Prey for Unscrupulous Livestreamers

The number of elderly netizens, with time and money to spend, has skyrocketed over the past decade alongside the rise of e-commerce and livestreaming

Gold bracelets, diamond-studded watches, jade necklaces, and jade rings: These are all recent purchases Shao Qiqi’s 60-year-old father made while watching livestreams.

During the holiday break at the start of this month, Shao and her sister returned to their parents’ home to find a mountain of delivery boxes in their father’s room. It was while clearing out the debris from his shopping sprees that they stumbled upon an array of products, including jewels, health supplements, clothes, medicines, liquor and paintings.

This is a growing trend among China’s elderly population. Indicative of the behavioral shift, over the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day break, a trending topic online was, “First thing when you get home: check your parents’ phones.”

China’s aging population, its vast e-commerce ecosystem, and the meteoric rise of livestreaming have converged to create a new consumer base among the traditionally frugal elderly population — a development causing concern for their children.

But there is also a deeper societal issue at the core of this phenomenon, according to Pan Shuya, an associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Renmin University.

Stacks of express delivery boxes at Shao Qiqi's home. Photo: Provided 

 The elderly tend to transpose their trust in traditional media to online platforms. And an inherent inclination to view content as authentic, combined with feelings of loneliness or social isolation, make them prime targets for livestreamers, who often use dubious sales tactics, said Pan. Case in point: some have taken to calling their viewers “mom and dad.”

Shao’s family has had countless rows with their father. At first, he would show her the “quality products” he’d bought from the livestreamers. Now, he hides his purchases.

Killing time online

Being glued to a smartphone is often thought of as a trait of the tech-savvy youth. But that is not the case in China, where the elderly are major consumers of online content. For many, this has turned into a penchant for livestream shopping.