DOYU DouYu International Holdings Ltd

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

(Mark One)

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For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.

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Date of event requiring this shell company report                     

For the transition period from                       to                     

Commission file number: 001-38967

DouYu International Holdings Limited

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

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N/A

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

Cayman Islands

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

20/F, Building A, New Development International Center,

No. 473 Guanshan Avenue,

Hongshan District, Wuhan, Hubei Province, 430073,

People’s Republic of China

(Address of principal executive offices)

Shaojie Chen

Chief Executive Officer

Tel: +86 27 8787 8301

E-mail: ir@douyu.tv

20/F, Building A, New Development International Center,

No. 473 Guanshan Avenue,

Hongshan District, Wuhan, Hubei Province, 430073,

People’s Republic of China

(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

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Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.

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Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act.

None

(Title of Class)

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act.

None

(Title of Class)

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.

31,977,665 ordinary shares issued and outstanding, par value $0.0001 per share as of December 31, 2022.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

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If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards † provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ☐

† The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the eff ectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.☒

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If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

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Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to § 240.10D-1(b). ☐

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Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

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If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.    ☐  Item 17  ☐    Item 18

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

(APPLICABLE ONLY TO ISSUERS INVOLVED IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS)

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Sections 12, 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court.    Yes  ☐    No  ☐

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INTRODUCTION

Except where the context otherwise indicates and for the purpose of this annual report only:

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Unless the context otherwise requires, the operating data presented for our company in this annual report excludes Gogo Glocal, an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, or any other platform we incorporated to conduct our business overseas. We acquired a controlling stake of Gogo Glocal in October 2018 and all of its shares in February 2020.

We have made rounding adjustments to some of the figures included in this annual report. Accordingly, numerical figures shown as totals or percentages may not be an arithmetic calculation of the figures that preceded them.

Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Renminbi to U.S. dollars and from U.S. dollars to Renminbi in this annual report are made at RMB6.8972 to US$1.00, the exchange rate set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board on December 30, 2022. We make no representation that any Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts could have been, or could be, converted into U.S. dollars or Renminbi, as the case may be, at any particular rate, the rates stated below, or at all.

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FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This annual report contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. Many of the forward-looking statements contained in this annual report can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “expect,” “should,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate” and “potential,” among others.

Forward-looking statements appear in a number of places in this annual report and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our intent, belief or current expectations. Forward-looking statements are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to various factors, including, but not limited to, those identified under the section entitled “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors” in this annual report. These risks and uncertainties include factors relating to:

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update them in light of new information or future developments or to release publicly any revisions to these statements in order to reflect later events or circumstances or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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However, the contractual arrangements may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing us with control over the VIEs and we may incur substantial costs to enforce the terms of the arrangements. If the VIEs or the nominee shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements, we could be limited in our ability to enforce the contractual arrangements in the PRC. We and our investors face significant uncertainty about potential future actions by the PRC government that could affect the legality and enforceability of the contractual arrangements with the VIEs and, consequently, significantly affect our ability to continue to consolidate the financial results of these entities in our financial statements. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure—Any failure by the VIEs or their shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have a material adverse effect on our business” and “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure—We rely on contractual arrangements with the VIEs and their shareholders for our operations in China, which may not be as effective in providing operational control as direct ownership.”

Our corporate structure involves unique risks to investors in the ADSs. Our contractual arrangements with the VIEs have not been tested in PRC court. If the PRC government deems that our contractual arrangements with the VIEs do not comply with PRC regulatory restrictions on foreign investment in the relevant industries, or if these regulations or the interpretation of existing regulations change in the future, we could be subject to material penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations or otherwise significantly change our corporate structure. We and our investors face significant uncertainty about potential future actions by the PRC government that could affect the legality and enforceability of the contractual arrangements with the VIEs and, consequently, significantly affect our ability to consolidate the financial results of the VIEs and the financial performance of our company as a whole. The PRC regulatory authorities could further disallow the VIE structure, which would likely result in a material change in our operations and the value of our securities or could significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to offer or continue to offer securities to investors and cause the value of such securities to significantly decline or be worthless. For a detailed discussion of the risk and uncertainties associated with the VIE structure, see “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factor—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure—There are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current and future PRC laws, regulations, and rules relating to the agreements that establish the VIE structure for our operations in China, including potential future actions by the PRC government, which could affect the enforceability of our contractual arrangements with the VIEs and, consequently, significantly affect the financial condition and results of operations performance of Douyu. If the PRC government finds such agreements non-compliant with relevant PRC laws, regulations, and rules, or if these laws, regulations, and rules or the interpretation thereof change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in the VIEs” and other risk factors discussed under “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factor—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure”.

We face significant regulatory, liquidity and enforcement risks and uncertainties as a company based in and primarily operating in China. including risks and uncertainties regarding that the rules and regulations in China may evolve quickly with any public consultation and advanced notice period being relatively short in terms of the time that we may need to fully adapt to such changes, all of which could result in a material change in our operations and value of our ADSs. The PRC government may also influence our operations by adopting new laws and regulations as the government deems appropriate to further regulatory, political and societal goals, or may exert more control over offerings conducted overseas and/or foreign investment in China-based issuers, which could result in a material change in our operations and the value of our ADSs. We also face risks associated with recent statements and regulatory actions by the PRC government, including those related to the use of variable interest entities, anti-monopoly regulatory actions, as well as cybersecurity and data privacy.

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Contractual Arrangements with the VIEs and the VIEs’ Respective Shareholders

Currently, our business in China are operated primarily through Wuhan Douyu and Wuhan Ouyue, the VIEs, due to PRC legal restrictions on foreign ownership in value-added telecommunication services and other Internet related business. The Special Administrative Measures for Entrance of Foreign Investment (Negative List) (2021 Version) provides that foreign investors are generally not allowed to own more than 50% of the equity interests in a value-added telecommunication service provider other than certain exceptions. In addition, foreign investors are prohibited from investing in companies engaged in certain online and culture related businesses. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—4.B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Relating to Telecommunications Services,” “Item 4. Information on the Company—4.B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Relating to Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs,” and “Item 4. Information on the Company—4.B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Relating to Online Game Operation.” We are a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Douyu Yule, our PRC subsidiary, is considered as a foreign-invested enterprise. To comply with the foregoing PRC laws and regulations, we primarily conduct our business in China through the VIEs and their subsidiaries in the PRC, based on a series of contractual arrangements. As a result of these contractual arrangements, we consolidate the operating results of the VIEs in our consolidated financial statements under U.S. GAAP. These contractual arrangements may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing us with control over the VIEs. If the VIEs or their respective shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements, we could be limited in our ability to enforce the contractual arrangements entered into with the VIEs in the PRC and may have to incur substantial costs and expend additional resources to enforce such arrangements. We may also have to rely on legal remedies under PRC law, including seeking specific performance or injunctive relief, and claiming damages, which we cannot assure will be effective under PRC law. For details, please refer to “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure.”

In the opinion of Han Kun Law Offices, our PRC counsel:

However, our PRC counsel advised that there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current and future PRC laws, regulations and rules. In particular, in March 2019, the National People’s Congress of the PRC adopted the PRC Foreign Investment Law, which became effective on January 1, 2020. Among other things, the PRC Foreign Investment Law defines “foreign investment” as investment activity in China by foreign investors in a direct or indirect manner, including those circumstances explicitly listed thereunder as establishing new projects or foreign invested enterprises or acquiring shares of enterprises in China, and other approaches of investment as stipulated by laws, administrative regulations or otherwise regulated by the State Council. The PRC Foreign Investment Law leaves uncertainty as to whether foreign investors’ controlling PRC onshore variable interest entities via contractual arrangements will be recognized as “foreign investment” and thus be subject to the restrictions/prohibitions on foreign investments. Accordingly, the PRC regulatory authorities may in the future take a view that is contrary to the above opinion of our PRC counsel. If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating our livestreaming business and other Internet related business do not comply with PRC government restrictions on foreign investment in certain industries, such as value-added telecommunications services business, we could be subject to severe penalties, including being prohibited from continuing operations. See “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure.” The following is a summary of the contractual arrangements by and among Douyu Yule, Wuhan Douyu and the shareholders of Wuhan Douyu, and Wuhan Ouyue and Mr. Shaojie Chen, the sole shareholder of Wuhan Ouyue.

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Wuhan Douyu

Share Pledge Agreement

Pursuant to a series of share pledge agreements entered into in May 2018 by and among Douyu Yule, Wuhan Douyu and the shareholders of Wuhan Douyu, the shareholders of Wuhan Douyu pledged all of their equity interests in Wuhan Douyu to Douyu Yule, to guarantee Wuhan Douyu’s performance of its obligations under the exclusive business cooperation agreement. If Wuhan Douyu breaches its contractual obligations under the exclusive business cooperation agreement, Douyu Yule will be entitled to certain rights, including but not limited to the rights to auction or sell the pledged equity interests. The pledges under the share pledge agreements have been registered with the relevant PRC legal authority pursuant to PRC laws and regulations. In January 2019, the existing share pledge agreement to which Mr. Chen is a party was replaced with an amended and restated share pledge agreement on substantially similar terms due to equity transfers. In April 2020 and July 2020, Douyu Yule, Wuhan Douyu and Mr. Chen entered into two additional share pledge agreements on substantially similar terms due to equity transfers. In October 2021, Douyu Yule, Wuhan Douyu and Wuhan Chaosai Business Information Consulting Partnership (Limited Partnership) entered into a share pledge agreement on substantially similar terms due to transfers of equity interest in Wuhan Douyu.

Exclusive Option Agreement

Pursuant to a series of exclusive option agreements entered into in May 2018 by and among Douyu Yule, Wuhan Douyu and the shareholders of Wuhan Douyu, the shareholders of Wuhan Douyu irrevocably granted Douyu Yule or its designated person an exclusive option to purchase at its discretion all or part of the equity interests in Wuhan Douyu held by the shareholders of Wuhan Douyu at the price of RMB1.0 or at the lowest price permitted by PRC law, whichever is lower. In addition, Wuhan Douyu irrevocably granted Douyu Yule or its designated person an exclusive option to purchase at its discretion, all or part of the assets held or entitled to be used by Wuhan Douyu, to the extent permitted under PRC law and at the lowest price permitted by PRC law. In January 2019, the existing exclusive option agreement to which Mr. Chen is a party was replaced with an amended and restated exclusive option agreement on substantially similar terms due to equity transfers, and the amended and restated exclusive option agreement was further replaced with two exclusive option agreements on substantially similar terms in April 2020 and July 2020 due to equity transfers. In October 2021, Douyu Yule, Wuhan Douyu and Wuhan Chaosai Business Information Consulting Partnership (Limited Partnership) entered into an exclusive option agreement on substantially similar terms due to transfers of equity interest in Wuhan Douyu.

Exclusive Business Cooperation Agreement

Pursuant to the exclusive business cooperation agreement entered into in May 2018 by and between Douyu Yule and Wuhan Douyu, Wuhan Douyu agreed to engage Douyu Yule as its exclusive provider of business support, technical and consulting services, including technical services, network support, business consultation, intellectual property licensing, equipment leasing, market consultancy, system integration, product research and development and system maintenance, in exchange for service fees. Under these arrangements, the service fees, subject to adjustment at Douyu Yule’s sole discretion, are equal to all of the net profit of Wuhan Douyu. Therefore, Douyu Yule enjoys all the economic benefits derived from the businesses of Wuhan Douyu.

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Power of Attorney

Pursuant to a series of powers of attorney issued by each shareholder of Wuhan Douyu in May 2018, the shareholders of Wuhan Douyu irrevocably appointed Douyu Yule or a director authorized by Douyu Yule as their attorney-in-fact to act on their behalf on all matters of Wuhan Douyu and to exercise all of their rights as registered shareholders of Wuhan Douyu. In January 2019, the existing power of attorney issued by Mr. Chen was replaced with a new power of attorney on substantially similar terms due to equity transfers, and such new power of attorney was further replaced with two powers of attorney on substantially similar terms in April 2020 and July 2020 due to equity transfers. In October 2021, Wuhan Chaosai Business Information Consulting Partnership (Limited Partnership) signed a power of attorney on substantially similar terms due to transfers of equity interest in Wuhan Douyu.

Spousal Consent Letters

Pursuant to a series of spousal consent letters executed by the spouses of the individual shareholders of Wuhan Douyu, Mr. Chen, and Mr. Wenming Zhang in May 2018, the signing spouses confirmed and agreed that the equity interests of Wuhan Douyu are the own property of their spouses and shall not constitute the community property of the couples. The spouses also irrevocably waived any potential right or interest that may be granted by operation of applicable law in connection with the equity interests of Wuhan Douyu held by their spouses. In January 2019, the existing spousal consent letter executed by Mr. Chen’s spouse was replaced with a new spousal consent letter on substantially similar terms due to equity transfers. In April 2020 and July 2020, the spouse of Mr. Chen issued two additional spousal consent letters on substantially similar terms due to equity transfers.

Wuhan Ouyue

Share Pledge Agreement

Pursuant to the share pledge agreement dated May 29, 2018 by and among Douyu Yule, Wuhan Ouyue and Mr. Chen, the sole shareholder of Wuhan Ouyue, Mr. Chen pledged all of his equity interests in Wuhan Ouyue to Douyu Yule, to guarantee Wuhan Ouyue’s performance of its obligations under the exclusive business cooperation agreement. If Wuhan Ouyue breaches its contractual obligations under the exclusive business cooperation agreement, Douyu Yule will be entitled to certain rights, including but not limited to the rights to auction or sell the pledged equity interests. The pledge under the share pledge agreement has been registered with the relevant PRC legal authority pursuant to PRC laws and regulations.

Exclusive Option Agreement

Pursuant to the exclusive option agreement dated May 29, 2018 by and among Douyu Yule, Wuhan Ouyue and Mr. Chen, the sole shareholder of Wuhan Ouyue, Mr. Chen irrevocably granted Douyu Yule or its designated person an exclusive option to purchase at its discretion, all or part of the equity interests in Wuhan Ouyue held by Mr. Chen at the price of RMB1.0 or at the lowest price permitted by PRC law, whichever is lower. In addition, Wuhan Ouyue irrevocably granted Douyu Yule or its designated person an exclusive option to purchase at its discretion all or part of the assets held or entitled to be used by Wuhan Ouyue, to the extent permitted under PRC law. Subject to relevant PRC laws and regulations, Wuhan Ouyue and Mr. Chen shall return any amount of purchase price they have received to Douyu Yule.

Exclusive Business Cooperation Agreement

Pursuant to the exclusive business operation agreement dated May 29, 2018 by and between Douyu Yule and Wuhan Ouyue, Wuhan Ouyue agreed to engage Douyu Yule as its exclusive provider of business support, technical and consulting services, including technical services, network support, business consultation, intellectual property licensing, equipment leasing, market consultancy, system integration, product research and development and system maintenance, in exchange for service fees. Under these arrangements, the service fees, subject to Douyu Yule’s adjustment, are equal to all of the net profit of Wuhan Ouyue. Douyu Yule may adjust the service fees at its sole discretion. Douyu Yule enjoys all the economic benefits derived from the businesses of Wuhan Ouyue.

Power of Attorney

Pursuant to the power of attorney dated May 29, 2018 issued by Mr. Chen, the sole shareholder of Wuhan Ouyue, Mr. Chen irrevocably appointed Douyu Yule or a director authorized by Douyu Yule as his attorney-in-fact to act on his behalf on all matters of Wuhan Ouyue and to exercise all of his rights as a registered shareholder of Wuhan Ouyue.

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Spousal Consent Letter

Pursuant to the spousal consent letter dated May 29, 2018 executed by the spouse of Mr. Chen, the sole shareholder of Wuhan Ouyue, the signing spouse confirmed and agreed that the equity interests of Wuhan Ouyue are the own property of Mr. Chen and shall not constitute the community property of the couple. The signing spouse also irrevocably waived any potential right or interest that may be granted by operation of applicable law in connection with the equity interests of Wuhan Ouyue held by Mr. Chen.

Recent Regulatory Development

Cybersecurity

On June 10, 2021, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China promulgated the Data Security Law, which took effect on September 1, 2021. The Data Security Law introduces a data classification and hierarchical protection system based on the importance of data in economic and social development, and the degree of harm it may cause to national security, public interests, or legitimate rights and interests of individuals or organizations if such data are tampered with, destroyed, leaked, illegally acquired or illegally used. The appropriate level of protection measures is required to be taken for each respective category of data. The Data Security Law also requires data processing operators to establish a sound data security management system throughout the whole process, organize data security education and training, and take corresponding technical measures and other necessary measures to ensure data security.

On December 28, 2021, the Cyberspace Administration of China, or the CAC, the National Development and Reform Commission, or the NDRC, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or the MIIT and several other PRC governmental authorities jointly issued the Cybersecurity Review Measures, which became effective on February 15, 2022. Pursuant to Cybersecurity Review Measures, critical information infrastructure operators that procure internet products and services and network platform operators engaging in data processing activities are subject to cybersecurity review under the Cybersecurity Review Measures if their activities affect or may affect national security. The relevant competent governmental authorities may initiate the cybersecurity review against the relevant operators if the authorities believe that the network product or service or data processing activities of such operators affect or may affect national security. In addition, network platform operators who possess personal information of more than one million users, and intend to be listed on a foreign stock exchange, must be subject to the cybersecurity review.

On November 14, 2021, the CAC published the Draft Measures for Internet Data Security, which provide that data processors conducting certain activities must apply for cybersecurity review, including, among others, merger, reorganization or separation of Internet platform operators that have acquired a large number of data resources related to national security, economic development or public interests that affects or may affect national security and the listing abroad of data processors processing over one million users’ personal information. The Draft Measures for Internet Data Security also require data processors processing over one million users’ personal information to comply with the regulations on important data processors, including, among others, appointing a person in charge of data security and establishing a data security management organization, filing with the competent authority within 15 working days after identifying its important data, formulating data security training plans, and organizing data security education and training for all staff every year, and that the education and training time of data-security-related technical and management personnel shall not be less than 20 hours per year. The Draft Measures for Internet Data Security also provides that data processors processing important data or going public overseas shall conduct an annual data security assessment by themselves or entrust a data security service institution to do so, and submit the data security assessment report of the previous year to the local branch of CAC before January 31 of each year. As advised by our PRC counsel, the Draft Measures for Internet Data Security have not been adopted and it remains unclear whether the formal version adopted in the future will have any further material changes, it is uncertain how the measures will be enacted, interpreted or implemented and how they will affect us. We cannot predict the impact of the draft measures, if any, at this stage, and we will closely monitor and assess any development in the rule-making process. If a final version of the Draft Measures for Internet Data Security is adopted, we may be subject to review when conducting data processing activities and annual data security assessment, and may face challenges in addressing its requirements and make necessary changes to our internal policies and practices in data processing. In addition, if the enacted version of the Draft Measures for Internet Data Security mandates clearance of cybersecurity review and other specific actions to be completed by China-based companies, such as us, that have been listed on overseas stock exchange, we face uncertainties as to whether we could obtain such clearance in a timely manner, or at all. During such review, we may be required to suspend providing any existing or new services to our customers and/or experience other disruptions of our operations, and such review could also result in negative publicity with respect to our company and diversion of our managerial and financial resources.

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On July 7, 2022, the CAC issued the Measures for Security Assessment of Cross-border Data Transfer, which became effective on September 1, 2022. These measures require the data processor providing data overseas to apply for the security assessment of cross-border transfer of data with the local provincial-level counterparts of the national cybersecurity authority under any of the following circumstances: (i) where the data processor intends to provide important data overseas; (ii) where a critical information infrastructure operator and a data processor who has processed personal information of more than 1,000,000 individuals intends to provide personal information overseas; (iii) where a data processor who has provided personal information of 100,000 individuals or sensitive personal information of 10,000 individuals to overseas recipients, in each case as calculated cumulatively since January 1 of the preceding year, intends to provide personal information overseas; or (iv) other circumstances where the security assessment of data cross-border transfer is required by the CAC. In addition, the data processor shall conduct a self-assessment on the risk of data cross-border transfer prior to applying for the foregoing security assessment. The data processors that in violation of such measures are required to rectify such non-compliance incidents within six months of the effectiveness date thereof. Given that the above measures came into effect recently, their interpretation, application and enforcement and how they will affect our business operation are subject to substantial uncertainties.

As of the date of this annual report, we have not been involved in any investigations or become subject to a cybersecurity review initiated by the CAC based on the Cybersecurity Review Measures, and we have not received any inquiry, notice, warning or sanctions in such respect or any regulatory objections to our listing status from the CAC.

CSRC Filings Required for Securities Offerings

In recent years, the PRC government has indicated an intent to exert more oversight over overseas securities offerings and published a series of laws and regulations to regulate such transactions. On February 17, 2023, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or the CSRC, promulgated the Trial Administrative Measures of Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies, or the Overseas Listing Trial Measures, and five supporting guidelines, which became effective on March 31, 2023. The Overseas Listing Trial Measures will comprehensively improve and reform the existing regulatory regime for overseas offering and listing of PRC domestic companies’ securities and will regulate both direct and indirect overseas offering and listing of PRC domestic companies’ securities by adopting a filing-based regulatory regime. According to the Overseas Listing Trial Measures, PRC domestic companies that seek to offer and list securities in overseas markets, either in direct or indirect means, are required to fulfill the filing procedure with the CSRC and report relevant information. If a company fails to complete the filing procedure or conceals any material fact or falsifies any major content in its filing documents, it may be subject to administrative penalties, such as order to rectify, warnings, fines, and its controlling shareholders, actual controllers, the person directly in charge and other directly liable persons may also be subject to administrative penalties, such as warnings and fines. The Overseas Listing Trial Measures also provide that a company in mainland China must file with the CSRC within three business days for its follow-on offering of securities after it is listed in an overseas market. On February 17, 2023, the CSRC also issued the Notice on Administration of the Filing of Overseas Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies and held a press conference for the release of the Overseas Listing Trial Measures, which, among others, clarified that the companies in mainland China that have been listed overseas before March 31, 2023 are not required to file with the CSRC immediately, but these companies should complete filing with the CSRC for their refinancing activities in accordance with the Overseas Listing Trial Measures. Based on the foregoing, as an issuer that has been listed overseas before the effective date of the Overseas Listing Trial Measures, we are not required to complete filing with the CSRC for our prior offshore offerings at this stage, but we may be subject to the filing requirements for our future capital raising activities under the Overseas Listing Trial Measures.

As of the date of this annual report, we have not received any inquiry, notice, warning, sanctions or regulatory objection from the CSRC in connection with requirements of obtaining prior approval for the listing of our ADSs. However, since the Overseas Listing Trial Measures was newly promulgated, the interpretation, application and enforcement of the Overseas Listing Trial Measures remain unclear, in particular, for the companies conducting their operations in mainland China through variable interest entities. At the press conference held for the Overseas Listing Trial Measures on the same day, officials from the CSRC clarified that, as for companies seeking overseas listing with VIEs and applying to file with the CSRC, the CSRC will solicit opinions from relevant PRC regulatory authorities and complete the filing of the overseas listing of such companies if such companies duly meet the compliance requirements. We cannot assure you that we will be able to complete such filing in a timely manner and fully comply with such rules to maintain the listing status of our ADSs and/or other securities, or to conduct any securities offerings in the future.

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There are substantial uncertainties as to how PRC governmental authorities will regulate overseas listings and offerings in general and whether we are required to or are able to complete any filing or obtain any specific regulatory approval from the CSRC, the CAC or any other PRC governmental authorities for our future overseas securities offerings. If we had inadvertently concluded that such approvals were not required, or if applicable laws, regulations or interpretations change in a way that requires us to complete such filings or obtain such approvals in the future, we may be unable to fulfill such requirements in a timely manner, or at all, and such approvals may be rescinded even if obtained. Any such circumstance could subject us to penalties, significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to continue to offer securities to investors and cause the value of such securities to significantly decline or be worthless. For more detailed information, see “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors— Risks Related to Doing Business in China—The PRC government may exert more control over our future overseas offerings or foreign investments in us, which could result in a material change in our operation and the value of our ADSs. In particular, the approval, filing or other requirements of the China Securities Regulatory Commission or other PRC government authorities may be required under PRC law in connection with our issuance of securities overseas.”

Permission Required from the PRC Authorities for Our Operations

We conduct our business primarily through our subsidiaries and the VIEs in China. Our operations in China are governed by PRC laws and regulations. Our PRC subsidiaries and the VIEs have obtained all material licenses and approvals required for our operations in China. We may be subject to additional licensing requirements for our business operation in China due to the uncertainties of interpretation and implementation of relevant laws and regulations and the enforcement practice by relevant government authorities. For risks relating to licenses and approvals required for our operations in China, see “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—If we fail to obtain or maintain the required licenses and approvals or if we fail to comply with laws and regulations applicable to our industry, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.”

As of the date of this annual report, we, our PRC subsidiaries and the VIEs are not required to obtain approval or permission from the CSRC or the CAC for the securities we offered historically under any currently effective PRC laws, regulations, and regulatory rules. However, in connection with any future overseas capital markets activities, we may need to file with the CSRC, undergo a cybersecurity review conducted by the CAC, or meet other regulatory requirements that may be adopted in the future by PRC regulatory authorities. To the extent such requirements are or become applicable, we cannot assure you that we would be able to comply with them in a timely manner, or at all. Any failure to obtain or delay in obtaining such approval or completing such procedures could subject us to restrictions and penalties imposed by the CSRC, the CAC or other PRC regulatory authorities, which could include fines and penalties on our operations in China, delays of or restrictions on the repatriation of the proceeds from our offshore offerings into China, or other actions that could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects, as well as the trading price of our ADSs.

Transfer of Funds and Other Assets

DouYu International Holdings Limited, our Cayman Islands holding company, transfers cash to our wholly-owned Hong Kong subsidiary (through intermediate holding companies in the British Virgin Islands), by making capital contributions or providing loans, and our Hong Kong subsidiary transfers cash to our PRC subsidiaries by making capital contributions or providing loans to them.

Because DouYu International Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries control the VIEs through contractual arrangements, they are not able to make direct capital contribution to the VIEs and their subsidiaries. However, under relevant PRC laws and regulations, we are permitted to remit funds to the VIEs through loans rather than capital contributions. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, we did not make any loans to the VIEs.The VIEs fund their operations primarily using cash generated from operating and financing activities. For more information, see “Item 3. Key Information—Condensed Consolidating Schedule,” and our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report.”

As of December 31, 2022, DouYu International Holdings Limited had made cumulative capital contributions of US$250 million to our PRC subsidiaries through our intermediate holding company, and those contributions were accounted as long-term investments of DouYu International Holdings Limited. These funds have been used by our PRC subsidiaries for their operations. As of December 31, 2021 and 2022, the loan balance owed under the VIE agreements was US$48.0 million and US$41.8 million, respectively. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, the VIEs transferred RMB794.1 million, RMB840.4 million and RMB$407.7 million (US$59.1 million), respectively, to our PRC subsidiaries as payment or prepayment of service fees.

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The VIEs may transfer cash to Douyu Yule by paying service fees according to the respective exclusive business cooperation agreements. Pursuant to these agreements between each of the VIEs and Douyu Yule, each of the VIEs agrees to pay Douyu Yule for services related to business support, technical and consulting services, including technical services, network support, business consultation, intellectual property licensing, equipment leasing, market consultancy, system integration, product research and development and system maintenance at an amount equal to all of the net profit of each of the VIEs, subject to adjustment at Douyu Yule’s sole discretion. For details of the contractual arrangements with the VIE, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—4.C. Organizational Structure—Contractual Arrangements with The VIEs and The VIEs’ Respective Shareholders.”

As of December 31, 2021 and 2022, the outstanding balance of service fees owed by the VIEs to our PRC subsidiaries were RMB3,278.2 million and RMB$3,346.2 million (US$485.2 million), respectively. There were no other assets transferred between VIEs and non-VIEs in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Condensed Consolidating Schedule

The following tables set forth the summary condensed consolidated balance sheets data as of December 31, 2021 and 2022 of (i) our Company and our subsidiaries and (ii) the VIEs and VIEs’ subsidiaries, and the summary of the condensed consolidated statements of operations and cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2021 and 2022. Our consolidated financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The historical results of us and the VIEs and VIEs’ subsidiaries are not necessarily indicative of results expected for future periods. You should read this information together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” included elsewhere in this annual report.

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Notes:

Restrictions on Foreign Exchange and the Ability to Transfer Cash between Entities, Across Borders and to U.S. Investors

In the future, if or when we become profitable, DouYu International Holdings Limited’s ability to pay dividends, if any, to its shareholders and ADS holders and to service any debt it may incur will depend upon dividends paid by our PRC subsidiaries. Under PRC laws and regulations, our PRC subsidiaries are subject to certain restrictions with respect to paying dividends or otherwise transferring any of their net assets offshore to DouYu International Holdings Limited. In particular, under the current effective PRC laws and regulations, dividends may be paid only out of distributable profits. Distributable profits are the net profit as determined under PRC GAAP, less any recovery of accumulated losses and appropriations to statutory and other reserves required to be made. Each of our PRC subsidiaries is required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profits each year, after making up previous years’ accumulated losses, if any, to fund certain statutory reserve funds, until the aggregate amount of such a fund reaches 50% of its registered capital. As a result, our PRC subsidiaries may not have sufficient distributable profits to pay dividends to us in the near future.

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Furthermore, if certain procedural requirements are satisfied, the payment of current account items, including profit distributions and trade and service related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval from SAFE or its local branches. However, where RMB is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses, such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies, approval from or registration with competent government authorities or its authorized banks is required. The PRC government may take measures at its discretion from time to time to restrict access to foreign currencies for current account or capital account transactions. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currencies to satisfy our foreign currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our offshore intermediary holding companies or ultimate parent company, and therefore, our shareholders or investors in our ADSs. Further, we cannot assure you that new regulations or policies will not be promulgated in the future, which may further restrict the remittance of RMB into or out of the PRC. We cannot assure you, in light of the restrictions in place, or any amendment to be made from time to time, that our current or future PRC subsidiaries will be able to satisfy their respective payment obligations that are denominated in foreign currencies, including the remittance of dividends outside of the PRC. If any of our subsidiaries incurs debt on its own behalf in the future, the instruments governing such debt may restrict its ability to pay dividends to DouYu International Holdings Limited. In addition, our PRC subsidiaries are required to make appropriations to certain statutory reserve funds, which are not distributable as cash dividends except in the event of a solvent liquidation of the companies.

For PRC and United States federal income tax consideration of an investment in the ADSs, see “Item 10. Additional Information—10.E. Taxation.”

Taxation on Dividends or Distributions

As advised by our PRC counsel, for any amounts owed by the VIEs to our PRC subsidiaries under the VIE agreements, unless otherwise required by PRC tax authorities, we are able to settle such amounts without limitations under the current effective PRC laws and regulations, provided that the VIEs have sufficient funds to do so. DouYu International Holdings Limited has not previously declared or paid any cash dividend or dividend in kind, and has no plan to declare or pay any dividends in the near future on our shares or the ADSs representing our ordinary shares. We currently intend to retain most, if not all, of our available funds and any future earnings to operate and expand our business. See “Item 8.—Financial Information—8.A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Dividend Policy.” For PRC and United States federal income tax considerations of an investment in our ADSs, see “Item 10. Additional Information—10.E. Taxation.”

Implication of the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act

Trading in our securities on U.S. markets, including the Nasdaq, may be prohibited under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (the “HFCAA”) if the PCAOB determines that it is unable to inspect or investigate completely our auditor for two consecutive years. On December 16, 2021, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the “PCAOB”) issued the HFCAA Determination Report to notify the SEC of its determinations that the PCAOB was unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong (the “2021 Determinations”), including our auditor. On May 4, 2022, we were conclusively identified by the SEC under the HFCAA as having filed audit reports issued by a registered public accounting firm that cannot be inspected or investigated completely by the PCAOB in connection with the filing of our 2021 Form 20-F. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections in the past also deprived our investors of the benefits of such inspections. On December 15, 2022, the PCAOB announced that it was able to conduct inspections and investigations completely of PCAOB-registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong in 2022. The PCAOB vacated its previous 2021 Determinations accordingly. As a result, we do not expect to be identified as a “Commission-Identified Issuer” under the HFCAA for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 after we file our annual report on Form 20-F for such fiscal year. However, whether the PCAOB will continue to conduct inspections and investigations completely to its satisfaction of PCAOB-registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong is subject to uncertainty and depends on a number of factors out of our, and our auditor’s, control, including positions taken by authorities of the PRC. The PCAOB is expected to continue to demand complete access to inspections and investigations against accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong in the future and states that it has already made plans to resume regular inspections in early 2023 and beyond. The PCAOB is required under the HFCAA to make its determination on an annual basis with regards to its ability to inspect and investigate completely accounting firms based in the mainland China and Hong Kong. The possibility of being a “Commission-Identified Issuer” and risk of delisting could continue to adversely affect the trading price of our securities. If the PCAOB determines in the future that it no longer has full access to inspect and investigate accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong and we continue to use such accounting firm to conduct audit work, we would be identified as a “Commission-Identified Issuer” under the HFCAA following the filing of the annual report for the relevant fiscal year, and if we were so identified for two consecutive years, trading in our securities on U.S. markets would be prohibited. For details, see “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—Trading in our securities on U.S. markets, including the Nasdaq, may be prohibited under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (the “HFCAA”) if the PCAOB determines that it is unable to inspect or investigate completely our auditor for two consecutive years.”

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3.A.[Reserved]

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3.B.Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

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3.C.Reason for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

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3.D.Risk Factors

We face significant regulatory, liquidity and enforcement risks and uncertainties as a company based in and primarily operating in China, including risks and uncertainties regarding that the rules and regulations in China may evolve quickly with any public consultation and advanced notice period being relatively short in terms of the time that we may need to fully adapt to such changes, all of which could result in a material change in our operations and value of our ADSs. The PRC government may also influence our operations by adopting new laws and regulations as the government deems appropriate to further regulatory, political and societal goals, or may exert more control over offerings conducted overseas and/or foreign investment in China-based issuers, which could result in a material change in our operations and the value of our ADSs. We also face risks associated with recent statements and regulatory actions by the PRC government, including those related to the use of variable interest entities, anti-monopoly regulatory actions, as well as cybersecurity and data privacy.

You should carefully consider all of the information in this annual report before making an investment in the ADSs. The operational risks associated with being based in and having operations in mainland China also apply to operations in Hong Kong and Macau. While entities and businesses in Hong Kong and Macau operate under different sets of laws from mainland China, the legal risks associated with being based in and having operations in mainland China could apply to a company’s operations in Hong Kong and Macau, if the laws applicable to mainland China become applicable to entities and business in Hong Kong and Macau in the future. As of the date of this annual report, we do not have operations in Hong Kong or Macau. In particular, as we are a China-based company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, you should pay special attention to subsections headed “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China” and “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure.”

Below please find a summary of the principal risks we face, organized under relevant headings.

Risks Related to Doing Business in China

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Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

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Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure

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Risks Related to our American Depositary Shares

Risks Related to Doing Business in China

The PRC government may exert more control over our future overseas offerings or foreign investments in us, which could result in a material change in our operation and the value of our ADSs. In particular, the approval, filing or other requirements of the China Securities Regulatory Commission or other PRC government authorities may be required under PRC law in connection with our issuance of securities overseas.

We conduct our business primarily through Douyu Yule and VIEs in China. Our operations in China are governed by PRC laws and regulations. The PRC government has significant oversight and discretion over the operation of our business, and it may influence our operations, which could result in a material adverse change in our operation and the value of our ADSs.

In recent years, the PRC government has indicated an intent to exert more oversight over overseas offerings by and/or foreign investments in China-based issuers like us. For example, on July 6, 2021, relevant PRC government authorities promulgated the Opinions on Strictly Cracking Down on Illegal Securities Activities in accordance with the Law, which emphasized the need to strengthen the administration over “illegal securities activities” and the supervision on overseas listings by China-based companies, and proposed to take effective measures, such as promoting the construction of relevant regulatory systems to deal with the risks and incidents faced by China-based overseas-listed companies, although such opinions did not specify the definition of “illegal securities activities.” Such opinions further provided that the special provisions of the State Council on overseas offerings and listings by those companies limited by shares will be revised and therefore the duties of domestic industry competent authorities and regulatory agencies will be clarified.

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In addition, on December 28, 2021, the CAC, the NDRC, the MIIT, and several other PRC governmental authorities jointly issued the revised Cybersecurity Review Measures, which became effective on February 15, 2022. The revised Cybersecurity Review Measures provide that a critical information infrastructure operator purchasing network products and services, and platform operators carrying out data processing activities, which affect or may affect national security, shall apply for cybersecurity review and that a platform operator with more than one million users’ personal information aiming to list abroad must apply for cybersecurity review. There are substantial uncertainties as to the interpretation, application, and enforcement of the Cybersecurity Review Measures and whether to conduct a security offering or maintain our trading status in the U.S. will be subject to the cybersecurity review procedures.

On February 17, 2023, the CSRC promulgated the Overseas Listing Trial Measures, and five supporting guidelines, which became effective on March 31, 2023. The Overseas Listing Trial Measures will comprehensively improve and reform the existing regulatory regime for overseas offering and listing of PRC domestic companies’ securities and will regulate both direct and indirect overseas offering and listing of PRC domestic companies’ securities by adopting a filing-based regulatory regime. According to the Overseas Listing Trial Measures, PRC domestic companies that seek to offer and list securities in overseas markets, either in direct or indirect means, are required to fulfill the filing procedure with the CSRC and report relevant information. If a company fails to complete the filing procedure or conceals any material fact or falsifies any major content in its filing documents, it may be subject to administrative penalties, such as order to rectify, warnings, fines, and its controlling shareholders, actual controllers, the person directly in charge and other directly liable persons may also be subject to administrative penalties, such as warnings and fines. The Overseas Listing Trial Measures also provide that a company in mainland China must file with the CSRC within three business days for its follow-on offering of securities after it is listed in an overseas market. On February 17, 2023, the CSRC also issued the Notice on Administration of the Filing of Overseas Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies and held a press conference for the release of the Overseas Listing Trial Measures, which, among others, clarified that the companies in mainland China that have been listed overseas before March 31, 2023 are not required to file with the CSRC immediately, but these companies should complete filing with the CSRC for their refinancing activities in accordance with the Overseas Listing Trial Measures. Based on the foregoing, as an issuer that has been listed overseas before the effective date of the Overseas Listing Trial Measures, we are not required to complete filing with the CSRC for our prior offshore offerings at this stage, but we may be subject to the filing requirements for our refinancing activities under the Overseas Listing Trial Measures. However, since the Overseas Listing Trial Measures was newly promulgated, the interpretation, application and enforcement of the Overseas Listing Trial Measures remain unclear. We cannot assure you that we will be able to complete such filing in a timely manner and fully comply with such rules to maintain the listing status of our ADSs and/or other securities, or to conduct any securities offerings in the future.

On February 24, 2023, the CSRC, jointly with other relevant governmental authorities, issued the revised the Provisions on Strengthening the Confidentiality and Archive Management Work Relating to the Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies, which became effective on March 31, 2023. The provisions requires, among others, that companies based in mainland China seeking to offer securities in overseas markets, either directly or indirectly, shall establish the confidentiality and archives system, and shall complete approval and filing procedures with competent authorities, if such companies or their overseas listing entities provide or publicly disclose documents or materials involving state secrets and work secrets of PRC government agencies to relevant securities companies, securities service institutions, overseas regulatory agencies and other entities and individuals. It further stipulates that providing or publicly disclosing documents and materials which may adversely affect national security or public interests, and accounting files or copies shall be subject to corresponding procedures in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. The revised provisions was newly promulgated. There remain substantial uncertainties about how these provisions will be interpreted, or implemented and how it will affect our operations.

If the CSRC or other relevant PRC regulatory agencies subsequently determine that prior approval and filing is required for any of our future offerings of securities overseas or to maintain the listing status of our ADSs, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to obtain such approval or complete such filing in a timely manner, or at all. The CSRC or other PRC regulatory agencies also may take actions requiring us, or making it advisable for us, not to proceed with such offering or maintain the listing status of our ADSs. If we proceed with any such offering or maintain the listing status of our ADSs without filing with the CSRC to the extent it is required under the Overseas Listing Trial Measures, or if we are unable to comply with any new requirements which might be adopted for offerings that we have completed prior to the publication of the above-referenced regulations, we may face regulatory actions or other sanctions from the CSRC or other PRC regulatory agencies. These regulatory agencies may impose fines and penalties on our operations in China, limit our ability to pay dividends outside of China, limit our operating privileges in China, delay or restrict the repatriation of the proceeds from offerings of securities overseas into China or take other actions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, as well as the trading price of the ADSs.

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Furthermore, if there are any other approvals, filings and/or other administration procedures, including the cybersecurity review under the Cybersecurity Review Measures and the Draft Measures for Internet Data Security, to be obtained from other PRC regulatory agencies as required by any new laws and regulations for any of our future proposed offering of securities overseas or the listing of the ADSs, we cannot assure you that we can obtain the required approval or complete the required filings or other regulatory procedures in a timely manner, or at all. Any failure to obtain the relevant approvals or complete the filings and other relevant regulatory procedures may subject us to regulatory actions or other sanctions from the CSRC or other PRC government authorities, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

It remains uncertain how PRC government authorities will regulate overseas listing and trading in general. In connection with our securities offering in the future, we may be unable to obtain the required approvals from the relevant government authorities in a timely manner, or at all, and such approvals may be rescinded even if obtained. Any such circumstance could significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to continue to offer securities to investors and cause the value of such securities to significantly decline or be worthless. In addition, implementation of industry-wide regulations affecting our operations could cause the value of our securities to significantly decline. Therefore, investors of our company and our business face potential uncertainty from actions taken by the PRC government affecting our business.

Uncertainties in the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws and regulations, including uncertainties regarding the enforcement of laws, and unexpected changes in policies, laws and regulations in China, could limit the legal protections available to you and us.

Our PRC subsidiaries and the VIEs, in particular Douyu Yule, a wholly foreign-owned enterprise, is subject to laws and regulations applicable to foreign-invested enterprises as well as various Chinese laws and regulations generally applicable to companies incorporated in China. However, since these laws and regulations are relatively new and the PRC legal system continues to rapidly evolve, the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules and enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involves uncertainties.

From time to time, we may have to resort to administrative and court proceedings to enforce our legal rights. However, since PRC administrative and court authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory and contractual terms, it may be difficult to evaluate the outcome of administrative and court proceedings, and the level of legal protection we enjoy.

The PRC government has significant oversight and discretion over the conduct of our business and may influence our operations as the government deems appropriate to further regulatory, political and societal goals. In recent years, the PRC government has published new policies that adversely affected our industry and our business, and we cannot rule out the possibility that it will, in the future, release regulations or policies regarding our industry that could further adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, in recent years, the PRC government has also indicated an intent to exert more oversight and control over securities offerings and other capital markets activities that are conducted overseas and foreign investment in China-based companies like us. Any such action, once taken by the PRC government, could significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to offer or continue to offer securities to investors and cause the value of such securities to significantly decline or in extreme cases, become worthless.

However, as there are still regulatory uncertainties in this regard, we cannot assure you that we will be able to comply with new laws and regulations in all respects, and we may be ordered to rectify, suspend or terminate any actions or services that are deemed illegal by the regulatory authorities and become subject to material penalties, which may materially harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules, and some of which may have retroactive effect. As a result, we may not be aware of our violation of these policies and rules until sometime after the violation. Such uncertainties, including uncertainty over the scope and effect of our contractual, property (including intellectual property) and procedural rights, could materially and adversely affect our business and impede our ability to continue our operations.

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Regulation and censorship of information disseminated over mobile devices and the Internet in China may adversely affect our business and subject us to liability for streaming content or posted on our platform.

Internet companies in China are subject to a variety of existing and new rules, regulations, policies, and license and permit requirements. In connection with enforcing these rules, regulations, policies and requirements, relevant government authorities may suspend services by revoking the licenses of, any Internet or mobile content service provider that is deemed to provide illicit content online or on mobile devices, and such activities may be intensified in connection with any ongoing government campaigns to eliminate prohibited content online. For example, in recent years, the Office of the Anti-Pornography and Illegal Publications Working Group, the State Internet Information Office, the MIIT, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Public Security have jointly or independently been launching a series of “Cleaning Up the Internet” campaigns, and have imposed more stringent requirements for internet platforms operators, such as us. Based on publicly available information, these campaigns are aimed to eliminate pornographic, harmful and illegal information and content from the Internet information services industry by, among other things, holding liable individuals and corporate entities that facilitate the distribution of pornographic information and content. For example, in 2020, the Ministry of Public Security launched a “Cleaning Up the Internet 2020” campaign, which is aimed at cracking down on illegal or criminal activities in relation to telecommunication network fraud, online gambling, online “water army” and other severe illegal or criminal activities. In 2021, the Office of the Anti-Pornography and Illegal Publications Working Group, together with relevant PRC government authorities, launched a “Cleaning Up the Internet 2021” campaign, which is aimed to eliminate pornographic, violent, terrorist, and superstitious information and content and other inappropriate contents from the livestreaming, online games, network literature industries, pop-up advertising and online social media platforms. During the campaigns, relevant government authorities have shut down certain websites, removed certain links and closed certain accounts. Certain Chinese Internet companies voluntarily initiated self-investigations to filter and remove content from their websites and cloud servers. In 2022, the PRC regulators launched the “Cleaning Up the Internet 2022” campaign with a key focus on regulating issues in certain areas, including among others, short videos, livestreaming, network environment for minors during summer holiday, application information services and application algorithms. On April 15, 2022, the CAC, the State Taxation Administration, or the SAT, and the State Administration for Market Regulation, or the SAMR jointly launched a two-month “Cleaning Up” campaign to regulate the chaos in the livestreaming and short video industry. The campaign is aimed to regulate “pornographic, ugliness, bizarre, fake, vulgar and gambling” contents and other illicit contents and rectify prominent issues in the industry, such as “key opinion leaders’ chaos”, excessive reward, illegal profit and malicious marketing.

We endeavor to eliminate illicit content from our platform. We have made substantial investments in resources to monitor content that users post on our platform and the way in which our users engage with each other through our platform. We use a variety of methods to ensure our platform remains a healthy and positive experience for our users. See “Item 4. Information of the Company—4.B. Business Overview—Content Monitoring System.” Although we employ these methods to filter content posted on our platform, we cannot be sure that our internal content control efforts will be sufficient to remove all content that may be viewed as indecent or otherwise non-compliant with PRC law and regulations. Government standards and interpretations as to what constitutes illicit online content or behavior are subject to interpretation and may change in a manner that could render our current monitoring efforts insufficient. The Chinese government has wide discretion in regulating online activities and, irrespective of our efforts to control the content on our platform, government campaigns and other actions to reduce illicit content and activities could subject us to negative press or regulatory challenges and sanctions, including fines, confiscation of illegal income, suspension or revocation of our licenses to operate in China or a suspension or ban on our mobile or online platform, including suspension or closure of one or more parts of or our entire business. Further, our senior management could be held criminally liable if we are deemed to be profiting from illicit content on our platform. Although our business and operations have not been materially and adversely affected by government campaigns or any other regulatory actions in the past, we cannot assure you that our business and operations will be immune from government actions or sanctions in the future. If government actions or sanctions are brought against us, or if there are widespread rumors that government actions or sanctions have been brought against us, our reputation could be harmed, we may lose users and customers, our revenues and results of operation may be materially and adversely affected and the value of our ADSs could be dramatically reduced.

Adverse changes in global or China’s economic, political or social conditions or government policies could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our revenues are substantially sourced from China. Accordingly, our results of operations, financial condition and prospects are influenced by economic, political and legal developments in China. Economic reforms begun in the late 1970s have resulted in significant economic growth. However, any economic reform policies or measures in China may from time to time be modified or revised. China’s economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including with respect to the amount of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. While the PRC economy has experienced significant growth in the past 40 years, growth has been uneven across different regions and among different economic sectors, and the rate of growth has been slowing.

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China’s economic conditions are sensitive to global economic conditions. The global financial markets have experienced significant disruptions since 2008 and the United States, Europe and other economies have experienced periods of recession. The global macroeconomic environment is facing new challenges and there is considerable uncertainty over the long-term effects of the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies adopted by the central banks and financial authorities of some of the world’s leading economies. Recent international trade disputes, including tariff actions announced by the United States, the PRC and certain other countries, and the uncertainties created by such disputes may cause disruptions in the international flow of goods and services and may adversely affect the Chinese economy as well as global markets and economic conditions. There have also been concerns about the economic effect of the military conflicts and political turmoil or social instability in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and other places, as well as the recent banking turmoil in the United States and the European Union. Any severe or prolonged slowdown in the global economy may adversely affect the Chinese economy which in turn may adversely affect our business and operating results.

The PRC government exercises significant control over China’s economic growth through strategically allocating resources, controlling the payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies. Although the PRC economy has grown significantly in the past decade, that growth may not continue, as evidenced by the slowing of the growth of the PRC economy since 2012. Any adverse changes in economic conditions in China, in the policies of the PRC government or in the laws and regulations in China could have a material adverse effect on the overall economic growth of China. Such developments could adversely affect our business and operating results, lead to a reduction in demand for our services and adversely affect our competitive position.

Currently there is no law or regulation specifically governing virtual asset property rights and therefore it is not clear what liabilities, if any, online game operators may have for virtual assets.

While participating on our platform, our users acquire, purchase and accumulate some virtual assets, such as gifts or certain status. Such virtual assets can be important to users and have monetary value. In practice, virtual assets can be lost for various reasons, often through unauthorized use of the user account of one user by other users and occasionally through data loss caused by delay of network service, network crash or hacking activities. Currently, there is no PRC law or regulation specifically governing virtual asset property rights. As a result, there is uncertainty as to who the legal owner of virtual assets is, whether and how the ownership of virtual assets is protected by law, and whether an operator of a livestreaming platform such as us would have any liability, whether in contract, tort or otherwise, to users or other interested parties, for loss of such virtual assets. Based on recent PRC court judgments, the courts have typically held online platform operators liable for losses of virtual assets by platform users, and ordered online platform operators to return the lost virtual items to users or pay damages and losses. In case of a loss of virtual assets, we may be sued by our users and held liable for damages, which may negatively affect our reputation and business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business is subject to complex and evolving Chinese and international laws and regulations, including those regarding data privacy and cybersecurity. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation.

We are required by privacy and data protection laws in China and other jurisdictions, including, without limitation, the PRC Cyber Security Law, to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the information of our users, third-party agents, content providers and other data, which is also essential to maintaining their confidence in our services. However, the regulatory framework for the collection, protection, use, sharing, transfer and other processing of data worldwide is rapidly evolving and remains uncertain. For example, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the PRC, promulgated the Cyber Security Law in November 2016, which requires network operators to perform certain functions related to cyber-security protection and strengthened network information management through taking technical and other necessary measures as required by laws and regulations to safeguard the operation of networks, respond to network security effectively, prevent illegal and criminal activities, and maintain the integrity and confidentiality and usability of network data.

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Regulatory authorities in China have implemented and are considering a number of legislative and regulatory proposals concerning cybersecurity and data protection. There remains uncertainties as to the interpretation and application of cybersecurity, information security, privacy and data protection laws in China. It is possible that existing or newly introduced laws and regulations, or their interpretation, application or enforcement, could significantly affect our business practice and force us to change our business practices. For example, on August 20, 2021, the SCNPC promulgated the PRC Personal Information Protection Law, which integrates the scattered rules with respect to personal information rights and privacy protection. The PRC Personal Information Protection Law also provides specific protection requirements for processing personal information, and such requirements remain to be clarified by governmental authorities and courts in practice. We may be required to make adjustments to our business practices to comply with the personal information protection laws and regulations. In June 2021, the SCNPC promulgated the Data Security Law, which took effect on September 1, 2021. The Data Security Law introduces a data classification and hierarchical protection system based on the importance of data and provides a national security review procedure for those data activities, which may affect national security and imposes export restrictions on certain data and information.

On December 28, 2021, the CAC, the NDRC, the MIIT, and several other PRC governmental authorities jointly issued the Cybersecurity Review Measures, which became effective on February 15, 2022. Pursuant to the Cybersecurity Review Measures, critical information infrastructure operators that procure internet products and services and network platform operators engaging in data processing activities are also subject to cybersecurity review under the Cybersecurity Review Measures if their activities affect or may affect national security. The relevant competent governmental authorities may initiate the cybersecurity review against the relevant operators if the authorities believe that the network product or service or data processing activities of such operators affect or may affect national security. In addition, the Cybersecurity Review Measures provide that network platform operators holding over one million users’ personal information must apply with the Cybersecurity Review Office for a cybersecurity review before listing on a foreign stock exchange. As of the date of this annual report, we have not received any notice from any authorities identifying us as a critical information infrastructure operator or requiring us to undertake a cybersecurity review. However, as the Cybersecurity Review Measures are relatively new, we still face uncertainties that the measures may be interpreted or implemented in ways that will negatively affect us.

On November 14, 2021, the CAC published Measures on Network Data Security Management (Draft for Comment), or the Draft Measures for Internet Data Security, which provides that data processors conducting certain activities must apply for cybersecurity review, including, among others, merger, reorganization or separation of internet platform operators that have acquired a large number of data resources related to national security, economic development or public interests and how this affects or may affect national security and listing abroad of data processors processing over one million users’ personal information. The Draft Measures for Internet Data Security also provides that data processors processing important data or going public overseas shall conduct an annual data security assessment by themselves or entrust a data security service institution to do so. As advised by Han Kun Law Offices, our PRC counsel, the Draft Measures for Internet Data Security have not been adopted and it remains unclear whether the formal version adopted in the future will have any further material changes, it is uncertain how the measures will be enacted, interpreted or implemented and how they will affect us. We cannot predict the impact of the draft measures, if any, at this stage. If a final version of the Draft Measures for Internet Data Security is adopted, we may be subject to review when conducting data processing activities and annual data security assessment and may face challenges in addressing its requirements and making necessary changes to our internal policies and practices in data processing. In addition, if the enacted version of the Draft Measures for Internet Data Security mandates clearance of cybersecurity review and other specific actions to be completed by China-based companies that have been listed on overseas stock exchanges, such as us, we face uncertainties as to whether we could obtain such clearance in a timely manner, or at all. Any failure or delay in the completion of the cybersecurity review procedures may prevent us from using or providing certain network products and services, and may result in penalties, including fines, suspension of business and revocation of required licenses, and our reputation and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

In addition, on July 7, 2022, the CAC issued the Measures for Security Assessment of Cross-border Data Transfer, which became effective on September 1, 2022. These measures require the data processor providing data overseas to apply for the security assessment of cross-border transfer of data with the local provincial-level counterparts of the national cybersecurity authority under any of the following circumstances: (i) where the data processor intends to provide important data overseas; (ii) where a critical information infrastructure operator and a data processor who has processed personal information of more than 1,000,000 individuals intends to provide personal information overseas; (iii) where a data processor who has provided personal information of 100,000 individuals or sensitive personal information of 10,000 individuals to overseas recipients, in each case as calculated cumulatively, since January 1 of the preceding year intends to provide personal information overseas; or (iv) other circumstances where the security assessment of data cross-border transfer is required by the CAC. In addition, the data processor shall conduct a self-assessment on the risk of data cross-border transfer prior to applying for the foregoing security assessment. The data processors that in violation of such measures are required to rectify such non-compliance incidents within 6 months of the effectiveness date thereof. Given that the above measures came into effect recently, their interpretation, application and enforcement and how they will affect our business operation are subject to substantial uncertainties.

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Compliance with the above PRC laws and regulations as well as additional laws and regulations that PRC regulatory bodies may enact in the future, including laws and regulations regarding cybersecurity, information security, privacy and data protection, may result in additional expenses to us and subject us to negative publicity, which could harm our reputation and business operations. There are also uncertainties with respect to how such laws and regulations will be implemented and interpreted in practice. PRC regulators have been increasingly focused on regulation in the areas of data security and data protection, and are enhancing the protection of privacy and data security by rule-making and enforcement actions at central and local levels. For example, in July 2021, certain PRC regulatory authorities issued Opinions on Strictly Cracking Down on Illegal Securities Activities in accordance with the Law, which further emphasized to improve relevant laws and regulations on data security, cross-border data transmission and confidential information management. We expect that these areas will receive greater and continued attention and scrutiny from regulators and the public going forward, which could increase our compliance costs and subject us to heightened risks and challenges associated with data security and protection.

While we have taken various measures to comply with all applicable laws and regulations regarding cybersecurity, information security, privacy and data protection in China, we cannot assure you that the measures we have taken or will take are adequate under these laws and regulations, and we may be held liable in the event of any breach of the relevant requirements under or other relevant laws and regulations. Any failure or perceived failure by us to prevent information security breaches or to comply with data security and privacy policies or related legal obligations, or any compromise of security that results in the unauthorized use, release or transfer of personally identifiable information or other data, could cause our users to lose trust in us and could expose us to legal claims or penalties. Any perception by the public that privacy of user information or data security are becoming increasingly unsafe or vulnerable to attacks could inhibit the growth of our products and services generally. We may also be held liable in the event of any breach of general clauses on our compliance with such statutory requirements as well as some other specific requirements related to data protection under the relevant contracts. We may have to spend much more personnel cost and time evaluating and managing these risks and challenges in connection with our products and services in the ordinary course of our business operations, and have cooperated, and will continue cooperating in the future, with the competent regulators in these respects. If further changes in our business practices are required under China’s evolving regulatory framework for the protection of information in cyberspace, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected. These proceedings or actions could subject us to significant penalties and negative publicity, require us to change our business practices, increase our costs and severely disrupt our business, hinder our global expansion or negatively affect the trading prices of our ADSs, shares and/or other securities. If we are unable to manage these risks, we could become subject to penalties, including fines, suspension of business and revocation of required licenses, and our reputation and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with Anti-monopoly Guidelines on Platform Economies and other anti-monopoly laws and regulations may result in governmental investigations or enforcement actions, litigation or claims against us and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In recent years, PRC anti-monopoly enforcement agencies have strengthened enforcement under the PRC Anti-monopoly Law. In March 2018, the SAMR was formed as a new governmental agency to take over, among other things, the anti-monopoly enforcement functions from the relevant departments under the Ministry of Commerce, the NDRC and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (the predecessor of the SAMR), respectively. Since its inception, the SAMR has continued to strengthen anti-monopoly enforcement. In December 2018, the SAMR issued the Notice on Anti-monopoly Enforcement Authorization, which grants authority to its province-level branches to conduct anti-monopoly enforcement within their respective jurisdictions. In November 2021, the National Anti-monopoly Bureau was inaugurated by the State Council, which aims to further implement the fair competition policies, and strengthen anti-monopoly supervision in the PRC, especially to strengthen oversight and law enforcement in areas involving innovation, science and technology, information security and people’s livelihood.

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The PRC anti-monopoly regulators may also issue implementation rules or guidelines from time to time to reinforce their regulation on certain industrial sectors. In February 2021, the Anti-monopoly Commission of the State Council published the Anti- monopoly Guidelines on Platform Economies. These guidelines prohibit monopolistic conduct such as entering into monopoly agreements, abusing market dominance and concentration of undertakings that may have the effect of eliminating or restricting competition in the field of platform economies. More specifically, the Anti-monopoly Guidelines on Platform Economies outline certain practices that may, if without justifiable reasons, constitute abuse of a dominant position, including without limitation, discriminating against customers in terms of pricing and other transactional conditions using big data and analytics, coercing counterparties into exclusivity arrangements, refusing to deal with counterparties on reasonable conditions, using bundle services to sell services or products, and compulsory collection of users’ unnecessary data. The Anti-monopoly Guidelines on Platform Economies further expressly state that concentration involving VIE will also be subject to antitrust filing requirements, and therefore will also fall within the scope of the antitrust review. In addition, Anti-monopoly Guidelines on Platform Economies reinforce antitrust merger review for internet platform related transactions to safeguard market competition. Since the Anti-monopoly Guidelines on Platform Economies are relatively new and may be subject to interpretation by the regulators in the process of implementing such guidelines, we cannot assure you that our business operations will comply with such regulation in all respects, and any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with such regulation may result in governmental investigations, fines and/or other sanctions on us. Furthermore, the amended PRC Anti-monopoly Law which took effect on August 1, 2022 increases the fines for illegal concentration of business operators to no more than ten percent of sales revenue of the preceding financial year if the concentration of business operator has or may have an effect of excluding or limiting competition; or a fine of up to RMB5 million if the concentration of business operators does not have an effect of excluding or limiting competition. The PRC Anti-monopoly Law also provides that the relevant authority shall investigate a transaction where there is any evidence that the concentration has or may have the effect of eliminating or restricting competitions, even if such concentration does not reach the filing threshold. See “Item 4. Information of the Company—4.B. Business Overview—Regulation.”

We may be involved in investigations, inquiries, claims, complaints or other administrative requirements in relation to anti-monopoly laws and regulations in the PRC from time to time. In the case of our failure or perceived failure to comply with these laws and regulations and new legislations or guidelines to be promulgated from time to time, governmental agencies and regulators may, among other things, prohibit or rescind our acquisitions, divestitures, or combinations, impose significant fines or penalties, require divestiture of certain of our assets, or impose other restrictions that limit or require us to modify our operations. Any anti-monopoly related lawsuits, regulatory investigations or administrative proceedings initiated against us could also result in our being subject to regulatory actions and constraints on our investments and acquisitions, which could include forced termination of any agreements or transactions, required divestitures, and business practices or significant fines. For example, in October 2020, we entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger with HUYA Inc. and other related parties, pursuant to which HUYA Inc. would acquire all our outstanding ordinary shares, including ordinary shares represented by ADSs, through a stock-for-stock merger. On July 10, 2021, the SAMR, posted an announcement of its decision to prohibit the merger transaction following its anti-monopoly review. Moreover, any noncompliance or associated inquiries, investigations or other governmental actions may divert significant management time and attention and financial resources, bring negative publicity, subject us to liabilities or administrative penalties, and materially and adversely affect our financial conditions, results of operations, and business prospects.

Under the PRC enterprise income tax law, we may be classified as a PRC “resident enterprise,” which could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our shareholders and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and the value of your investment.

Under the PRC enterprise income tax law that became effective on January 1, 2008, and was last amended on December 29, 2018, an enterprise established outside the PRC with “de facto management bodies” within the PRC is considered a “resident enterprise” for PRC enterprise income tax purposes and is generally subject to a uniform 25% enterprise income tax rate on its worldwide income. On April 22, 2009, the SAT, issued the Circular Regarding the Determination of Chinese-Controlled Overseas Incorporated Enterprises as PRC Tax Resident Enterprise on the Basis of De Facto Management Bodies, or SAT Circular 82, which provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the “de facto management body” of a PRC-controlled enterprise that is incorporated offshore is located in China. Further to SAT Circular 82, on July 27, 2011, the SAT issued the Administrative Measures of Enterprise Income Tax of Chinese-Controlled Offshore Incorporated Resident Enterprises (Trial), or SAT Bulletin 45, which became effective on September 1, 2011, to provide more guidance on the implementation of SAT Circular 82.

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According to SAT Circular 82, an offshore incorporated enterprise controlled by a PRC enterprise or a PRC enterprise group will be considered a PRC tax resident enterprise by virtue of having its “de facto management body” in China and will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax on its worldwide income only if all of the following conditions are met: (a) the senior management and core management departments in charge of its daily operations function have their presence mainly in the PRC; (b) its financial and human resources decisions are subject to determination or approval by persons or bodies in the PRC; (c) its major assets, accounting books, company seals, and minutes and files of its board and shareholders’ meetings are located or kept in the PRC; and (d) not less than half of the enterprise’s directors or senior management with voting rights habitually reside in the PRC. SAT Bulletin 45 provides further rules on residence status determination, post-determination administration as well as competent tax authorities procedures.

Although SAT Circular 82 and SAT Bulletin 45 apply only to offshore incorporated enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises or a PRC enterprise group and not those controlled by PRC individuals or foreigners, Han Kun Law Offices, our legal counsel as to PRC law, has advised us that the determination criteria set forth therein may reflect SAT’s general position on how the term “de facto management body” could be applied in determining the tax resident status of offshore enterprises, regardless of whether they are controlled by PRC enterprises, individuals or foreigners.

We do not meet all of the conditions set forth in SAT Circular 82. Therefore, we believe that we should not be treated as a “resident enterprise” for PRC tax purposes even if the standards for “de facto management body” prescribed in the SAT Circular 82 applied to us. For example, certain of our minutes and files of the resolutions of our board of directors and the resolutions of our shareholders are maintained outside the PRC.

However, the PRC tax authorities may take a different view. Han Kun Law Offices, our legal counsel as to PRC law, has advised us that if the PRC tax authorities determine that our Cayman Islands holding company or any Hong Kong subsidiary is a PRC resident enterprise for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, its world-wide income could be subject to PRC tax at a rate of 25%, which could reduce our net income. In addition, we will also be subject to PRC enterprise income tax reporting obligations. Although dividends paid by one PRC tax resident to another PRC tax resident should qualify as “tax-exempt income” under the enterprise income tax law, dividends paid by our PRC subsidiary to us or any of our Hong Kong subsidiaries could be subject to a 10% withholding tax if we or any of our Hong Kong subsidiaries were treated as a PRC resident enterprise. The PRC foreign exchange control authorities, which enforce the withholding tax on dividends, and the PRC tax authorities have not yet issued guidance with respect to the processing of outbound remittances to entities that are treated as resident enterprises for PRC enterprise income tax purposes.

If we are treated as a resident enterprise, non-PRC resident ADS holders may also be subject to PRC withholding tax on dividends paid by us and PRC tax on gains realized on the sale or other disposition of ADSs or ordinary shares if such income is sourced from within the PRC. The tax would be imposed at the rate of 10% in the case of non-PRC resident enterprise holders and 20% in the case of non-PRC resident individual holders. In the case of dividends, we would be required to withhold the tax at source. Any PRC tax liability may be reduced under applicable tax treaties or similar arrangements, but it is unclear whether our non-PRC shareholders company would be able to obtain the benefits of any tax treaties between their country of tax residence and the PRC in the event that we are treated as a PRC resident enterprise. Although our holding company is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, it remains unclear whether dividends received and gains realized by our non-PRC resident ADS holders will be regarded as income from sources within the PRC if we are classified as a PRC resident enterprise. Any such tax will reduce the returns on your investment in our ADSs.

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There are uncertainties with respect to indirect transfers of PRC taxable properties outside a public stock exchange.

We face uncertainties on the reporting and consequences on private equity financing transactions, private share transfers and share exchange involving the transfer of shares in our company by non-resident investors. According to the Notice on Several Issues Concerning Enterprise Income Tax for Indirect Share Transfer by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises, or SAT Circular 7, issued by the State Taxation Administration on February 3, 2015, an “indirect transfer” of assets of a PRC resident enterprise, including a transfer of equity interests in a non-PRC holding company of a PRC resident enterprise, by non-PRC resident enterprises may be re-characterized and treated as a direct transfer of PRC taxable properties, if such transaction lacks reasonable commercial purpose and was undertaken for the purpose of reducing, avoiding or deferring PRC enterprise income tax. As a result, gains derived from such indirect transfer may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax, and tax filing or withholding obligations may be triggered, depending on the nature of the PRC taxable properties being transferred. According to SAT Circular 7, “PRC taxable properties” include assets of a PRC establishment or place of business, real properties in the PRC, and equity investments in PRC resident enterprises, in respect of which gains from their transfer by a direct holder, being a non-PRC resident enterprise, would be subject to PRC enterprise income taxes. When determining if there is a “reasonable commercial purpose” of the transaction arrangement, features to be taken into consideration include: whether the main value of the equity interest of the relevant offshore enterprise derives from PRC taxable properties; whether the assets of the relevant offshore enterprise mainly consists of direct or indirect investment in China or if its income mainly derives from China; whether the offshore enterprise and its subsidiaries directly or indirectly holding PRC taxable properties have a real commercial nature which is evidenced by their actual function and risk exposure; the duration of existence of the business model and organizational structure; the replicability of the transaction by direct transfer of PRC taxable properties; and the tax situation of such indirect transfer outside China and its applicable tax treaties or similar arrangements. In respect of an indirect offshore transfer of assets of a PRC establishment or place of business of a foreign enterprise, the resulting gain is to be included with the annual enterprise filing of the PRC establishment or place of business being transferred, and would consequently be subject to PRC enterprise income tax at a rate of 25%. Where the underlying transfer relates to PRC real properties or to equity investments in a PRC resident enterprise, which is not related to a PRC establishment or place of business of a non-resident enterprise, a PRC enterprise income tax at 10% would apply, subject to available preferential tax treatment under applicable tax treaties or similar arrangements, and the party who is obligated to make the transfer payments has the withholding obligation. Where the payer fails to withhold any or sufficient tax, the transferor shall declare and pay such tax to the competent tax authority by itself within the statutory time limit. Late payment of applicable tax will subject the transferor to default interest. Currently, SAT Circular 7 does not apply to the sale of shares by investors through a public stock exchange where such shares were acquired in a transaction on a public stock exchange.

The PRC tax authorities could, at their discretion, adjust any capital gains and impose tax return filing and withholding or tax payment obligations and associated penalties with respect to any internal restructuring, and our PRC subsidiary may be requested to assist in the filing. Any PRC tax imposed on a transfer of our shares not through a public stock exchange, or any adjustment of such gains would cause us to incur additional costs and may have a negative impact on the value of your investment in our company.

Implementation of the labor laws and regulations in China may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Pursuant to the PRC Labor Contract Law that took effect in January 2008, its implementation rules that took effect in September 2008 and its amendment that took effect in July 2013, employers are subject to stricter requirements in terms of signing labor contracts, minimum wages, paying remuneration, determining the term of employees’ probation and unilaterally terminating labor contracts. Due to lack of detailed interpretative rules and uniform implementation practices and broad discretion of the local competent authorities, it is uncertain as to how the PRC Labor Contract Law and its implementation rules will affect our current employment policies and practices. Our employment policies and practices may violate the PRC Labor Contract Law or its implementation rules, and we may thus be subject to related penalties, fines or legal fees. Compliance with the PRC Labor Contract Law and its implementation rules may increase our operating expenses, in particular our personnel expenses. We may, from time to time, optimize our employees’ utilization and adjust our employee structure. In the event that we decide to terminate some of our employees or otherwise change our employment or labor practices, the PRC Labor Contract Law and its implementation rules may also limit our ability to effect those changes in a desirable or cost-effective manner, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations. On October 28, 2010, the SCNPC promulgated the PRC Social Insurance Law, or the Social Insurance Law, which became effective on July 1, 2011 and was amended on December 29, 2018. According to the Social Insurance Law, employees must participate in pension insurance, work-related injury insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance and maternity insurance and the employers must, together with their employees or separately, pay the social insurance premiums for such employees.

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We expect our labor costs to increase due to the implementation of these laws and regulations. Although as of the date of this annual report, we are not aware of any notice from regulatory authorities or any material claim or request from these employees in this regard, as the interpretation and implementation of these new laws and regulations are still evolving, we cannot assure you that our employment practices will at all times be deemed in full compliance with labor-related laws and regulations in China, which may subject us to labor disputes or government investigations. If we are deemed to have violated relevant labor laws and regulations, we could be required to provide additional compensation to our employees, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Further, labor disputes, work stoppages or slowdowns at our company or any of our third-party service providers could significantly disrupt our daily operation or our expansion plans and have a material adverse effect on our business.

It may be difficult for overseas regulators to conduct investigations or collect evidence in China.

Shareholder claims or regulatory investigations that are common in the United States (including securities law class actions and fraud claims) are generally difficult to apply as a matter of law and/or in practice in China. For example, in China, there are significant legal and other obstacles in the process of gathering information needed for regulatory investigations or litigations initiated outside China. Although the governmental authorities in China may establish a regulatory cooperation mechanism with the securities regulatory authorities of another country or region to implement cross-border supervision and administration, such cooperation with the securities regulatory authorities in the Unities States may not be efficient in the absence of a mutual and practical cooperation mechanism. Furthermore, according to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law, or Article 177, which became effective in March 2020, no overseas securities regulator may directly conduct investigations or collect evidence and, without proper authorization as stipulated under Article 177, no entities or individuals may provide documents or materials in connection with securities activities. While detailed interpretation of or implementation rules under Article 177 have not been promulgated, the inability of an overseas securities regulator to directly conduct investigations or collect evidence in China may further increase difficulties faced by you in protecting your interests.

China’s M&A Rules and certain other PRC regulations establish complex procedures for certain acquisitions of Chinese companies by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to pursue growth through acquisitions in China.

The Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rules, and other recently adopted regulations and rules concerning mergers and acquisitions established additional procedures and requirements that could make merger and acquisition activities by foreign investors more time consuming and complex. For example, the M&A Rules require that the Ministry of Commerce be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise, if (i) any important industry is concerned, (ii) such transaction involves factors that impact or may impact national economic security or (iii) such transaction will lead to a change in control of a domestic enterprise which holds a famous trademark or PRC time-honored brand. Moreover, the PRC Anti-monopoly Law promulgated by the SCNPC in 2008 and recently amended in 2022 requires that transactions which are deemed concentrations and involve parties with specified turnover thresholds (i.e., during the previous fiscal year, (i) the total global turnover of all operators participating in the transaction exceeds RMB10 billion and at least two of these operators each had a turnover of more than RMB400 million within China or (ii) the total turnover within China of all the operators participating in the concentration exceeded RMB2 billion, and at least two of these operators each had a turnover of more than RMB400 million within China) must be cleared by the anti-monopoly enforcement authority before they can be completed. On December 14, 2020, the SAMR announced three cases of administrative penalties for the acquirers’ failures to make proper concentration declarations to the relevant authorities about their past acquisitions. This is also the first time that the SAMR imposed administrative penalties for declarations on illegal concentrations involved entities structured under a VIE arrangement.

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In addition, in 2011, the General Office of the State Council promulgated the Notice on Establishing the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, also known as Circular 6, which officially established a security review system for mergers and acquisitions of domestic enterprises by foreign investors. Further, the Ministry of Commerce promulgated the Regulations on Implementation of Security Review System for the Merger and Acquisition of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, effective in 2011, to implement Circular 6. Under Circular 6, a security review is required for mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors having “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions by which foreign investors may acquire the “de facto control” of domestic enterprises with “national security” concerns. Under the foregoing Ministry of Commerce regulations, the Ministry of Commerce will focus on the substance and actual impact of the transaction when deciding whether a specific merger or acquisition is subject to security review. If the Ministry of Commerce decides that a specific merger or acquisition is subject to a security review, it will submit it to the Inter-Ministerial Panel, an authority established under Circular 6 led by the NDRC, and the Ministry of Commerce under the leadership of the State Council, to carry out security review. The regulations prohibit foreign investors from bypassing the security review by structuring transactions through trusts, indirect investments, leases, loans, control through contractual arrangements or offshore transactions. There is no explicit provision or official interpretation stating that the merging or acquisition of a company engaged in the Internet content or mobile games business requires security review, and there is no requirement that acquisitions completed prior to the promulgation of the Security Review Circular are subject to the Ministry of Commerce review. On December 26, 2019, the State Council issued the Order No. 723, the Implementation Regulations for the PRC Foreign Investment Law, or the Foreign Investment Law Implementation Regulations, which became effective on January 1, 2020. The Foreign Investment Law Implementation Regulations declare that China will establish a foreign investment security review system, and conduct security review for foreign investments which have or may have an adverse impact on national security. In addition, the Ministry of Commerce promulgated the Measures on Reporting of Foreign Investment Information, effective on January 1, 2020, which provides detailed submission requirements for foreign investors. Foreign investors undertaking a merger and acquisition of a non-foreign investment enterprise in China is required to submit an initial report through the enterprise registration system upon completion of amendment registration for the target enterprise.

In December 2020, the NDRC and the Ministry of Commerce promulgated the Measures for the Security Review of Foreign Investment, which came into effect on January 18, 2021. See “Item 4. Information of the Company—4.B. Business Overview—Regulation” for more details. As these measures are relatively new, official guidance has not been issued by the designated office in charge of such security review yet. At this stage, the interpretation of those measures remains unclear in many aspects such as what would constitute “important information technology and Internet services and products” and whether these measures may apply to foreign investment that is implemented or completed before the enactment of these new measures. As our business may be deemed to constitute the foregoing circumstances, we cannot assure you that our current business operations will remain fully compliant, or we can adapt our business operations to new regulatory requirements on a timely basis, or at all.

In the future, we may grow our business by acquiring complementary businesses. Complying with the requirements of the above-mentioned regulations and other relevant rules to complete such transactions could be time consuming, and any required approval processes, including obtaining approval from the Ministry of Commerce or its local counterparts may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions. We believe that it is unlikely that our business would be deemed to be in an industry that raises “national defense and security” or “national security” concerns. However, the Ministry of Commerce or other government agencies may publish explanations in the future determining that our business is in an industry subject to the security review, in which case our future acquisitions in China, including those by way of entering into contractual control arrangements with target entities, may be closely scrutinized or prohibited.

PRC regulations relating to offshore investment activities by PRC residents may limit our PRC subsidiary’s ability to increase their registered capital or distribute profits to us or otherwise expose us to liability and penalties under PRC law.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or the SAFE, promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Relating to Foreign Exchange Control on Domestic Resident’s Offshore Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or the SAFE Circular 37, in July 2014 that requires PRC residents or entities to register with SAFE or its local branch in connection with their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas investment or financing. In addition, such PRC residents or entities must update their SAFE registrations when the offshore special purpose vehicle undergoes material events relating to any change of basic information (including change of such PRC citizens or residents, name and operation term), increases or decreases in investment amount, transfers or exchanges of shares, or mergers or divisions. According to the Notice on Further Simplifying and Improving Policies for the Foreign Exchange Administration of Direct Investment released on February 13, 2015 by the SAFE, as amended in December 2019, local banks will examine and handle foreign exchange registration for overseas direct investment, including the initial foreign exchange registration and amendment registration, under SAFE Circular 37 from June 1, 2015.

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If our shareholders who are PRC residents or entities do not complete their registration with the local SAFE branches, our PRC subsidiary may be prohibited from distributing their profits and proceeds from any reduction in capital, share transfer or liquidation to us, and we may be restricted in our ability to contribute additional capital to our PRC subsidiary. Moreover, failure to comply with the SAFE registration described above could result in liability under PRC laws for evasion of applicable foreign exchange restrictions. However, we may not at all times be fully aware or informed of the identities of all our shareholders or beneficial owners that are required to make such registrations, and we cannot compel our beneficial owners to comply with SAFE registration requirements. As a result, we cannot assure you that all of our shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents or entities have complied with, and will in the future make or obtain any applicable registrations or approvals required by, SAFE regulations. Failure by such shareholders or beneficial owners to comply with SAFE regulations, or failure by us to amend the foreign exchange registrations of our PRC subsidiary, could subject us to fines or legal sanctions, restrict our overseas or cross-border investment activities, limit our subsidiaries’ ability to make distributions or pay dividends or affect our ownership structure, which could adversely affect our business and prospects.

PRC regulation of direct investment and loans by offshore holding companies to PRC entities may delay or limit us from using the proceeds of our initial public offering to make additional capital contributions or loans to our PRC subsidiary.

We are an offshore holding company conducting our operations in China through our PRC subsidiary, variable interest entities and their subsidiaries. We may make loans to our PRC subsidiary, variable interest entities and their subsidiaries, or we may make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiary.

Any capital contributions or loans that we, as an offshore entity, make to our PRC subsidiary, including from the proceeds of our initial public offering, are subject to PRC regulations. Capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries are subject to the approval of or filing with the Ministry of Commerce and the SAMR in its local branches and registration with a local bank authorized by SAFE. There is no statutory limit on the amount of capital contribution that we can make to our PRC subsidiaries. Any medium or long-term loan to be provided by us to the VIEs must be registered with the NDRC and SAFE or its local branches. With respect to loans to the PRC subsidiaries by us, the outstanding amount of the loans shall not exceed the difference between the total investment and the registered capital of the PRC subsidiaries or 250% of the net asset of the relevant PRC subsidiary.

The Circular on Reforming the Administration of Foreign Exchange Settlement of Capital of Foreign-Invested Enterprises, or SAFE Circular 19, effective as of June 1, 2015, allows foreign invested enterprises, or FIEs, to settle their foreign exchange capital at their discretion, but continues to prohibit FIEs from using the Renminbi fund converted from their foreign exchange capitals for expenditure beyond their business scopes, and also prohibit FIEs from using such Renminbi fund to provide loans to persons other than affiliates unless otherwise permitted under its business scope. As a result, we are required to apply Renminbi funds converted from the net proceeds we received from our initial public offering within the business scopes of our PRC subsidiaries. According to the Circular on Optimizing the Administration of Foreign Exchange to Support the Development of Foreign-related Business issued by the SAFE on April 10, 2020, eligible enterprises are allowed to make domestic payments using the income under their capital accounts generated from their capital, foreign debt and overseas listing, without providing materials for each transaction evidencing the authenticity in advance, provided that the capital usage is authentic and compliant with the current capital account income usage management regulations. On October 23, 2019, the SAFE issued Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Further Promoting the Facilitation of Cross-border Trade and Investment, or Circular 28. Circular 28 allows non-investment foreign-invested enterprises to use their capital funds to make equity investments in China, provided that such investments do not violate the Negative List and the target investment projects are genuine and in compliance with PRC laws. Since Circular 28 was relatively new, its interpretation and implementation in practice are still subject to substantial uncertainties. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—4.B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Relating to Foreign Currency Exchange and Dividend Distribution.”

In light of the various requirements imposed by PRC regulations on loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies, we cannot assure you that we will be able to complete the necessary registration or obtain the necessary approval on a timely basis, or at all. If we fail to complete the necessary registration or obtain the necessary approval, our ability to make loans or equity contributions to our PRC subsidiary may be negatively affected, which could adversely affect our PRC subsidiary’s liquidity and its ability to fund its working capital and expansion projects and meet its obligations and commitments.

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Our PRC subsidiary and PRC variable interest entities are subject to restrictions on paying dividends or making other payments to us, which may restrict our ability to satisfy our liquidity requirements.

We are a holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. We rely on dividends from our PRC subsidiary which in turn relies on consulting and other fees paid by the VIEs for our cash and financing requirements, such as the funds necessary to pay dividends and other cash distributions to our shareholders, including holders of our ADSs, and service any debt we may incur. Current PRC regulations permit our PRC subsidiary to pay dividends to us only out of their accumulated after-tax profits upon satisfaction of relevant statutory condition and procedures, if any, determined in accordance with Chinese accounting standards and regulations. In addition, our PRC subsidiary is required to set aside at least 10% of its accumulated profits each year, if any, to fund certain reserve funds until the total amount set aside reaches 50% of its registered capital. As of December 31, 2022, we had not made appropriations to statutory reserves as our subsidiary and the VIEs (including their subsidiaries) reported accumulated loss. Furthermore, if our PRC subsidiary, variable interest entities and their subsidiaries incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing the debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends or make other payments to us, which may restrict our ability to satisfy our liquidity requirements.

In addition, the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, and its implementation rules provide that the withholding tax rate of 10% will be applicable to dividends payable by Chinese companies to non-PRC-resident enterprises unless otherwise exempted or reduced according to treaties or arrangements between the PRC central government and governments of other countries or regions where the non-PRC-resident enterprises are incorporated. As of December 31, 2022, our subsidiary and the VIEs (including their subsidiaries) located in the PRC reported accumulated loss and therefore they could not pay any dividends.

Fluctuations in exchange rates could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and the value of your investment.

The value of the RMB against the U.S. dollar and other currencies is affected by changes in China’s political and economic conditions and by China’s foreign exchange policies, among other things. In July 2005, the PRC government changed its decades-old policy of pegging the value of the RMB to the U.S. dollar, and the RMB appreciated more than 20% against the U.S. dollar over the following three years. Between July 2008 and June 2010, this appreciation halted and the exchange rate between the RMB and the U.S. dollar remained within a narrow band. Since June 2010, the RMB has fluctuated against the U.S. dollar, at times significantly and unpredictably. On November 30, 2015, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the regular five-year review of the basket of currencies that makes up the Special Drawing Right, or the SDR, and decided that effective October 1, 2016, RMB would be a freely usable currency and would be included in the SDR basket as a fifth currency, along with the U.S. dollar, the Euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the RMB depreciated significantly in the backdrop of a surging U.S. dollar and persistent capital outflows of China. In 2017, the RMB appreciated approximately 6.3% against the U.S. dollar. In 2018 and 2019, however, the RMB depreciated approximately 5.7% and 1% against the U.S. dollar. In 2020 and 2021, the RMB continues to fluctuate against the U.S. dollar. It remains unclear what further fluctuations may occur.

With the development of the foreign exchange market and progress towards interest rate liberalization and RMB internationalization, the PRC government may in the future announce further changes to the exchange rate system and the RMB could appreciate or depreciate significantly in value against the U.S. dollar in the future. It is difficult to predict how market forces or PRC or U.S. government policy may impact the exchange rate between the RMB and the U.S. dollar in the future.

There remains significant international pressure on the Chinese government to adopt a flexible currency policy to allow the RMB to appreciate against the U.S. dollar. Significant revaluation of the RMB may have a material adverse effect on your investment. Substantially all of our revenues and costs are denominated in RMB. Any significant revaluation of RMB may materially and adversely affect our revenues, earnings and financial position, and the value of, and any dividends payable on, our ADSs in U.S. dollars. To the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars into RMB for capital expenditures and working capital and other business purposes, appreciation of the RMB against the U.S. dollar would have an adverse effect on the RMB amount we would receive from the conversion. Conversely, a significant depreciation of the RMB against the U.S. dollar may significantly reduce the U.S. dollar equivalent of our earnings, which in turn could adversely affect the price of our ADSs, and if we decide to convert RMB into U.S. dollars for the purpose of making payments for dividends on our ordinary shares or ADSs, strategic acquisitions or investments or other business purposes, appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the RMB would have a negative effect on the U.S. dollar amount available to us.

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Very limited hedging options are available in China to reduce our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations. To date, we have not entered into any hedging transactions in an effort to reduce our exposure to foreign currency exchange risk. While we may decide to enter into hedging transactions in the future, the availability and effectiveness of these hedges may be limited and we may not be able to adequately hedge our exposure or hedge it at all. In addition, our currency exchange losses may be magnified by PRC exchange control regulations that restrict our ability to convert RMB into foreign currency. As a result, fluctuations in exchange rates may have a material adverse effect on your investment.

Governmental control of currency conversion may limit our ability to utilize our revenues effectively and affect the value of your investment.

The PRC government imposes control on the convertibility of the RMB into foreign currencies and, in certain cases, the remittance of currency out of China. We receive substantially all of our revenues in RMB. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, including profit distributions, interest payments and trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior SAFE approval by complying with certain procedural requirements. Therefore, our PRC subsidiary is able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to us without prior approval from the SAFE. However, approval from or registration with appropriate government authorities is required where RMB is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies. The PRC government may also at its discretion restrict access to foreign currencies for current account transactions in the future. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currencies to satisfy our foreign currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders, including holders of our ADSs.

Failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding the registration requirements for employee stock ownership plans or share option plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.

Pursuant to SAFE Circular 37, PRC residents who participate in share incentive plans in overseas non-publicly-listed companies may submit applications to SAFE or its local branches for the foreign exchange registration with respect to offshore special purpose companies. In the meantime, our directors, executive officers and other employees who are PRC citizens or who are non-PRC residents residing in the PRC for a continuous period of not less than one year, subject to limited exceptions, and who have been granted incentive share awards by us, may follow the Circular on Issues Concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Publicly-Listed Company, or the SAFE Circular 7, promulgated by the SAFE in 2012. Pursuant to the SAFE Circular 7, PRC citizens and non-PRC citizens who reside in China for a continuous period of not less than one year who participate in any stock incentive plan of an overseas publicly listed company, subject to a few exceptions, are required to register with the SAFE through a domestic qualified agent, which could be the PRC subsidiaries of such overseas listed company, and complete certain other procedures. In addition, an overseas entrusted institution must be retained to handle matters in connection with the exercise or sale of stock options and the purchase or sale of shares and interests. We and our executive officers and other employees who are PRC citizens or who reside in the PRC for a continuous period of not less than one year and who have been granted options are subject to these regulations. Failure to complete the SAFE registrations may subject them to fines, and legal sanctions and may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital into our PRC subsidiary and limit our PRC subsidiary’s ability to distribute dividends to us. We also face regulatory uncertainties that could restrict our ability to adopt additional incentive plans for our directors, executive officers and employees under PRC law. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—4.B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Relating to Foreign Currency Exchange and Dividend Distribution—Stock Option Rules.”

The SAT has issued certain circulars concerning equity incentive awards. Under these circulars, our employees working in China who exercise share options or are granted restricted shares or restricted stock units, or RSUs, will be subject to PRC individual income tax. Our PRC subsidiary has obligations to file documents related to employee share options, restricted shares or RSUs with relevant tax authorities and to withhold individual income taxes of those employees. If our employees fail to pay or we fail to withhold their income taxes according to relevant laws and regulations, we may face sanctions imposed by the tax authorities or other PRC governmental authorities. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—4.B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Relating to Foreign Currency Exchange and Dividend Distribution—Stock Option Rules.”

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Our leased property interests may be defective and our right to lease the properties affected by such defects may be challenged, which could adversely affect our business.

Under PRC laws, all lease agreements are required to be registered with local housing authorities. We lease seven premises in China. Some landlords of these premises have not registered the relevant lease agreements with the government authorities or have not completed registration of their ownership rights to the premises, and some of the premises have defective title. We may be subject to monetary fines due to failure by the landlords to complete the required registrations.

We may also be forced to relocate our operations if the landlords do not obtain valid title to or complete the required registrations with local housing authorities in a timely manner or at all. We might not be able to locate desirable alternative sites for our operations in a timely and cost-effective manner which may adversely affect our business.

The PCAOB had historically been unable to inspect our auditor in relation to their audit work performed for our financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report.

Our auditor is an independent public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or the PCAOB. As an auditor of companies traded publicly in the United States, it issues the audit report included elsewhere in this annual report. Our auditor is subject to laws in the United States pursuant to which the PCAOB conducts regular inspections to assess its compliance with the applicable professional standards. Since our auditor is located in China, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB was historically unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the Chinese authorities before 2022, our auditor had not been inspected by the PCAOB.

The lack of the PCAOB inspections in China in the past prevented the PCAOB from fully evaluating audits and quality control procedures of our independent registered public accounting firm, depriving us and investors in our ADSs of the benefits of such PCAOB inspections. The past inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China made it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our independent registered public accounting firm’s audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that were subject to the PCAOB inspections.

Trading in our securities on U.S. markets, including the Nasdaq, may be prohibited under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCAA, if the PCAOB determines that it is unable to inspect or investigate completely our auditor for two consecutive years.

Trading in our securities on U.S. markets, including the Nasdaq, may be prohibited under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (the “HFCAA”) if the PCAOB determines that it is unable to inspect or investigate completely our auditor for two consecutive years. On December 16, 2021, the PCAOB issued the HFCAA Determination Report to notify the SEC of its determinations that the PCAOB was unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong (the “2021 Determinations”), including our auditor. On May 26, 2022, we were conclusively identified by the SEC under the HFCAA as having filed audit reports issued by a registered public accounting firm that cannot be inspected or investigated completely by the PCAOB in connection with the filing of our 2021 Form 20-F. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections in the past also deprived our investors of the benefits of such inspections. On December 15, 2022, the PCAOB announced that it was able to conduct inspections and investigations completely of PCAOB-registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong in 2022. The PCAOB vacated its previous 2021 Determinations accordingly. As a result, we do not expect to be identified as a “Commission-Identified Issuer” under the HFCAA for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 after we file our annual report on Form 20-F for such fiscal year.

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However, whether the PCAOB will continue to conduct inspections and investigations completely to its satisfaction of PCAOB-registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong is subject to uncertainty and depends on a number of factors out of our, and our auditor’s, control, including positions taken by authorities of the PRC. The PCAOB is expected to continue to demand complete access to inspections and investigations against accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong in the future and states that it has already made plans to resume regular inspections in early 2023 and beyond. The PCAOB is required under the HFCAA to make its determination on an annual basis with regards to its ability to inspect and investigate completely accounting firms based in the mainland China and Hong Kong. The possibility of being a “Commission-Identified Issuer” and risk of delisting could continue to adversely affect the trading price of our securities. If the PCAOB determines in the future that it no longer has full access to inspect and investigate accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong and we continue to use such accounting firm to conduct audit work, we would be identified as a “Commission-Identified Issuer” under the HFCAA following the filing of the annual report for the relevant fiscal year, and if we were so identified for two consecutive years, trading in our securities on U.S. markets would be prohibited. If our ADSs are prohibited from trading in the U.S. markets, our ability to raise capital in the U.S. markets would be significantly affected, and there is no certainty that we will be able to list on a non-U.S. exchange or that a market for our Class A ordinary shares or ADSs will develop outside of the U.S.

Proceedings instituted by the SEC against certain PRC-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, could result in financial statements being determined to be out of compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.

In December 2012, the SEC brought administrative proceedings against the PRC-based affiliates of the Big Four accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, alleging that they had violated U.S. securities laws by failing to provide audit work papers and other documents related to certain other PRC-based companies under investigation by the SEC. On January 22, 2014, an initial administrative law decision was issued, censuring and suspending these accounting firms from practicing before the SEC for a period of six months. The decision was neither final nor legally effective until reviewed and approved by the SEC, and on February 12, 2014, the PRC-based accounting firms appealed this decision with the SEC. In February 2015, each of the four PRC-based accounting firms agreed to a censure and to pay a fine to the SEC to settle the dispute and avoid suspension of their ability to practice before the SEC. The settlement requires the firms to follow detailed procedures to seek to provide the SEC with access to such firms’ audit documents via the CSRC. If the firms do not follow these procedures or if there is a failure in the process between the SEC and the CSRC, the SEC could impose penalties such as suspensions, or it could restart the administrative proceedings.

On February 6, 2015, each of the four China-based accounting firms agreed to a censure and to paid fines to the SEC to settle the dispute and avoid suspension of their ability to practice before the SEC and audit U.S.-listed companies. The settlement required the firms to follow detailed procedures and to seek to provide the SEC with access to Chinese firms’ audit documents via the CSRC. Under the terms of the settlement, the underlying proceeding against the four China-based accounting firms was deemed dismissed with prejudice for four years after entry of the settlement. The four-year mark occurred on February 6, 2019. We cannot predict whether the SEC will further challenge the four China-based accounting firms. In the event that the SEC restarts the administrative proceedings, depending upon the final outcome, listed companies in the United States with major PRC operations may find it difficult or impossible to retain auditors in respect of their operations in the PRC, which could result in financial statements being determined to be out of compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, including possible delisting. Moreover, any negative news about the proceedings against these audit firms may cause investor uncertainty regarding PRC-based, United States-listed companies and the market price of our ADSs may be adversely affected.

If our independent registered public accounting firm was denied, even temporarily, the ability to practice before the SEC and we were unable to timely find another registered public accounting firm to audit and issue an opinion on our financial statements, our financial statements could be determined to be out of compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act. Such a determination could ultimately lead to the delisting of our ordinary shares from the Nasdaq or deregistration from the SEC, or both, which would substantially reduce or effectively terminate the trading of our ADSs in the United States.

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Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

If we fail to retain our existing users, keep them engaged or further grow our user base, our business, operation, profitability and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

The size of our user base and the level of our user engagement are critical to our success. Our main monetization strategies—livestreaming, advertisement and others depend on our ability to maintain and increase the size of our user base and user engagement level. If our user base becomes smaller or our users become less active, it is probable that they would spend less on our virtual gifts and jointly operated games or visit our advertisements less frequently, or access our platform less in general. This would in turn drive top streamers away from our platform, discourage companies from purchasing advertisements on our platform and dissuade game developers and publishers from distributing their games through our platform. Our financial condition would suffer from the consequential decline in revenue and our business and operating results would be materially and adversely impacted.

We are one of China’s leading game-centric livestreaming platforms in terms of the size of our user base and the level of user engagement. Maintaining and improving the current size of user base and level of user engagement are critical to our continued success. However, to maintain and improve this already large size of user base and high level of user engagement, we would have to ensure that we adequately and timely respond to changes in user preferences, attract and retain enough popular streamers, and offer new features and content that may attract new users. There is no guarantee that we could meet all of these goals. A number of factors could negatively affect user retention, growth and engagement, including the following:

We may fail to attract, cultivate and retain top streamers, which may materially and negatively affect our user retention and thus our business and operations.

Our registered streamers include a high number of top streamers each of whom entered into an exclusive contract with us directly. Our top streamers tend to have large fan bases following them who regularly support these streamers with virtual gifts, and they also tend to attract many integrated promotion activities during livestreaming compared to self-registered streamers. Their charisma and the high-quality content that they create are primary contributors to user stickiness and are hard to replicate with self-registered streamers.

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Although we have signed exclusive contracts with top streamers at typically three- to five-year terms that contain non-compete clauses, top streamers may still choose to depart from us when their contract period ends, and their departure may cause a corresponding decline in our user base. As we attract top streamers from other platforms, we have also been and are currently involved in legal disputes concerning top streamers with competing platforms. Although we are not the primary target of these legal disputes, such streamers may be subject to fines or even injunctions which may render our investment in recruiting them meaningless. On the other hand, some of our top streamers have left us for competing platforms despite still being in a contractual relationship with us which may raise legal disputes. Although we have won some of the legal disputes against these breaching streamers, their departures may still have a negative impact on user retention and reputation. To retain top streamers, we must devise better streamer compensation schemes, improve our monetization capabilities and help the top streamers reach a wider audience. Although we strive to improve ourselves in these aspects, we cannot guarantee that our streamers will not leave us even if we do our best to retain them.

In terms of streamer cultivation, we cannot guarantee that the performance metrics we use to track promising streamers will enable us to identify future top streamers. Some of the streamers we identify as promising may turn out to be underperforming, and we may also fail to spot truly promising streamers in early stages of their careers. In addition to a waste of resources, either one of these scenarios could prevent us from cultivating top streamers, which could weaken our core competitive strength against competing platforms and thus cause an outflow of users to those platforms.

We may fail to offer attractive content, in particular popular game content, on our platform.

We offer comprehensive livestreaming content with a primary focus on games. Our content library is constantly evolving and growing. Game content has been the key component of our content offerings since our inception. A majority of our streamers were game streamers and game streaming also contributed significantly to the total viewing hours on our platform. In response to viewers’ growing interests, we also have expanded our coverage into other entertainment content genres. We actively track viewership growth and community feedback to identify trending content and encourage our streamers and talent agencies to create content that caters to viewers constantly changing tastes. However, if we fail to expand and diversify our content offerings, identify trending and popular genres, or maintain the quality of our content, we may experience decreased viewership and user engagement, which may materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial conditions.

In addition, we largely rely on our streamers to create high-quality and fun livestreaming content. We have in place a comprehensive and effective incentive mechanism to encourage streamers and talent agencies to supply content that is attractive to our viewers. Also, talent agencies cooperating with us may guide or influence streamers to livestream content that is well received by our viewers. However, if we fail to observe the latest trends and timely guide streamers and talent agencies accordingly, or fail to attract streamers who are capable of creating content based on popular games, or if streamers fail to produce content for trending games, our viewer numbers may decline and our financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

We have significant reliance on the eSports industry.

As the nexus of the eSports ecosystem, our platform connects game developers and publishers, professional eSports teams or players and eSports tournament organizers, advertisers and viewers. User generated content covering eSports games is the largest contributor to our user base. Our average mobile eSports MAUs were approximately 37.1 million and 28.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 and 2022, respectively. In addition to streaming of eSports games, major eSports events and tournaments, we also sponsor leading eSports teams and organize our own eSports tournaments.

We rely heavily on a number of eSports games to generate our user traffic. For example, the most popular eSports games on our platform attracted a large amount of average mobile MAUs and generated significant hours spent by our users. As a result, if we fail to maintain our market position in the eSports industry or to attract users through livestreaming of popular eSports games, if the game developers and publishers fail to maintain the normal publication and operation of their online games or if any of these games fails to attract enough users, our user base and streamer base may shrink significantly. We may experience decreased viewership and user engagement, which may materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

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If we fail to effectively manage our growth and control our periodic spending to maintain such growth, our brand, business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

We have experienced a period of significant growth and expansion in the past, which placed significant strain on our management and resources. However, given our limited operating history and the rapidly evolving market in which we compete, we may encounter difficulties as we establish and expand our operations, research and development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative capabilities. We cannot assure you that this level of growth will be sustainable or achieved at all in the future. We believe that our continued growth will depend on our ability to attract and retain viewers and top streamers, develop an infrastructure to service and support an expanding body of viewers and streamers, explore new monetization avenues, convert non-paying users to paying users, increase user engagement levels and capitalize on the eSports industry. We cannot assure you that we will be successful with any of the above.

To manage our growth and maintain profitability, we expect our costs and expenses may fluctuate in the future as we anticipate that we will need to continue to implement, from time to time, a variety of new and adapted operational, informational and financial systems, procedures and controls on an as-needed basis, including the continued improvement of our accounting and other internal management systems. We will also need to train, manage and motivate our workforce and manage our relationships with viewers and streamers, game developers and publishers, advertisers and other business partners. All of these endeavors involve risks and will require substantial management efforts and skills and significant additional expenditures. We expect to continue to invest in our infrastructure in order to enable us to provide our services rapidly and reliably to viewers and streamers. Continued growth could end up straining our ability to maintain reliable service levels for all of our viewers and streamers, develop and improve our operational, financial, legal and management controls, and enhance our reporting systems and procedures. Managing our growth will require significant expenditures and the allocation of valuable management resources. If we fail to achieve the necessary level of efficiency in our organization as we grow, our business, operating results and financial condition could be harmed.

We have incurred net losses since inception, and we may continue to incur losses in the future.

We have incurred significant accumulated net losses to date. Although experiencing net incomes since 2019, we may not generate sufficient revenues to offset such costs to achieve or sustain profitability in the future. We incurred net losses of RMB620.2 million and RMB90.4 million (US$13.1 million) in 2021 and 2022, respectively. We have generated gross profit since 2018, and this may not translate into continued net after-tax profit. The time it will take for us to eventually achieve profitability hinges on our ability to grow rapidly in a cost-effective way, and we may not be able to grow this way successfully.

While our future revenue growth will be linked with the realization of our monetization strategies, which will be affected by user engagement, streamer retention and product offering, our cost-effective growth will primarily rely on improvement of operational efficiency. We may not be able to improve our operational efficiency in the future, or our operational efficiency improvement may not reach a sufficient level to generate profitability. Our ability to continue to improve operational efficiency will depend on our ability to maintain stronger bargaining positions in contract negotiations with top streamers, streamline our operation, achieve economies of scale and employ more advanced streaming technologies at lower cost, among other things. Additionally, our ability to achieve profitability is affected by various external factors, many of which are beyond our control, such as the PC and mobile games market and eSports industry in China, and the development of social networking, livestreaming services and mobile marketing services. We cannot assure you that we will be able to improve our operational efficiency in the future.

We may again incur losses in the near future due to our continued investment in services, technologies, overseas expansion, research and development and our continued sales and marketing initiatives. Changes in the macroeconomic and regulatory environment or competitive dynamics and our inability to respond to these changes in a timely and effective manner may also impact our profitability. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that our company will turn profitable in the short term just because we have made substantial investments in various areas.

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Our business may suffer if we fail to successfully implement our monetization strategies.

Our monetization model is constantly evolving. Our streaming platform is free to access, and we generate revenues primarily from livestreaming and advertisement. As a result, our revenue is affected by our ability to increase user engagement and convert non-paying users into paying users, which in turn depends on our ability to offer content, virtual gifts, advertisements and other services. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, we generated RMB8,852.2 million, RMB8,596.6 million and RMB6,797.3 million (US$985.5 million) from livestreaming, representing 92.2%, 93.8% and 95.6% of our total revenues for the same period. We also generate a sizeable portion of our revenues from providing advertisement and other services on our platform. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, we generated RMB749.7 million, RMB568.7 million and RMB310.9 million (US$45.1 million) from advertisements and others, representing 7.8%, 6.2% and 4.4% of our total revenues for the same period. We also generate a small portion of our revenue from game distribution, which involves revenue-sharing arrangements with game developers and publishers, and game-related services, which mainly involves sales of game-specific memberships to users. If we are not successful in enhancing our ability to monetize our existing services or developing new approaches to monetization, we may not be able to maintain or increase our revenues and profits or recover any associated costs. We monitor market developments and may adjust our monetization strategies accordingly from time to time, which may result in decreases of our overall revenue or revenue contributions from some monetization channels. In addition, we may in the future introduce new services to diversify our revenue streams, including services with which we have little or no prior development or operating experience. If these new or enhanced services fail to engage customers or platform partners, we may fail to generate sufficient revenues to justify our investments, and our business and operating results may suffer as a result.

Our content monitoring system may not be effective in preventing misconduct by our platform users and misuse of our platform and such misconduct or misuse may materially and adversely impact our brand image, business and operating results.

We are a game-centric livestreaming platform that provides real-time streaming and interactions. Because we do not have full control over how streamers or viewers will use our platform to communicate, our platform may be misused by individuals or groups of individuals to engage in immoral, disrespectful, fraudulent or illegal activities. For example, we must detect spam accounts, through which illegal or inappropriate content is streamed or posted and illegal or fraudulent activities are conducted, on a timely basis. Media reports and Internet forums have covered some of these incidents which have, in some cases, generated negative publicity about our platform and brand. We have implemented control procedures to detect and block illegal or inappropriate content and illegal or fraudulent activities conducted through the misuse of our platform, but such procedures may not prevent all such content from being broadcasted or posted or activities from being carried out. Moreover, as we have limited control over real-time and offline behavior of our users, to the extent such behavior is associated with our platform, our ability to protect our brand image and reputation may be limited. Our business and the public perception of our brand may be materially and adversely affected by misuse of our platform.

In addition, if any of our viewers suffers or alleges to have suffered physical, financial or emotional harm following contact initiated on our platform or after watching or hearing illegal or inappropriate content that our content monitoring system failed to filter out, we may face civil lawsuits or other liabilities initiated by the affected viewer, or governmental or regulatory actions against us. In response to allegations of illegal or inappropriate activities conducted through our platform or any negative media coverage about us, PRC government authorities may intervene and hold us liable for noncompliance with PRC laws and regulations concerning the dissemination of information on the Internet and subject us to administrative penalties or other sanctions, such as requiring us to restrict or discontinue some of the features and services provided on our website and mobile application, or even revoke our licenses or permits to provide Internet content service. We endeavor to ensure that all streamers are in compliance with relevant regulations, but we cannot guarantee that all streamers will comply with all the PRC laws and regulations in all aspects. Therefore, our livestreaming service may be subject to investigations or subsequent penalties if content displayed on our platform is deemed to be illegal or inappropriate under PRC laws and regulations. Especially, if our top streamers violate the policy of our platform to conduct any illegal or inappropriate behavior on our platform or in private, we may be required to block the account of such top streamers. As a result, our business may suffer and our user base, revenues and profitability may be materially and adversely affected.

Our limited operating history in a rapidly evolving market makes it difficult to evaluate our business and growth prospects.

Our business operations commenced in 2014, with commercialization beginning midway through 2015. We have experienced year-over-year growth in the number of active and paying users and total revenue since 2016. However, our growth in the past may not be indicative of our future performance, as our operating results represent a limited-size sample of operational results and may be hard to repeat in the future.

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Many of the elements of our business are constantly evolving. The markets for our livestreaming platform and the related products and services are rapidly developing and are subject to significant challenges, especially in terms of converting non-paying users to paying users, maintaining a stable paying user base and attracting new paying users. Our business plan relies heavily upon an expanding user base and the resulting increased revenue from livestreaming and advertisement, as well as our ability to capitalize on the eSports industry and explore other monetization avenues. We may not succeed in any of these aspects.

As the livestreaming industry in China is rapidly developing, there are few proven methods of projecting user demand or available industry standards on which we can rely. Some of our current monetization methods are also in a relatively evolving stage. For example, if we fail to properly manage the volume and price of our virtual gifts, our users may be less likely to purchase them. We cannot assure you that our attempts to monetize our viewers and streamers will continue to be successful, profitable or accepted, and therefore the income potential of our business is difficult to gauge.

Our growth prospects should be considered in light of the risks and uncertainties that fast-growing early-stage companies with limited operating histories in evolving industries may encounter, including, among others, risks and uncertainties regarding our ability to:

Addressing these risks and uncertainties will require significant capital expenditures and allocation of valuable management and employee resources. If we fail to successfully address any of the above risks and uncertainties, the size of our user base, our revenue and operating margin may decline.

We face risks related to natural disasters, health epidemics and other outbreaks of contagious diseases.

Our business could be adversely affected by natural disasters or outbreaks of epidemics. These natural disasters, outbreaks of contagious diseases, and other adverse public health developments in China or any other market in which we operate and conduct business could severely disrupt our business operations by damaging our network infrastructure or information technology system or affecting the productivity of our workforce. The outbreak of any severe epidemic disease, such as avian flu, H1N1 flu, SARS or coronavirus, may disrupt our operations, which could negatively affect our financial condition and business prospects. COVID-19 has and is continuing to spread worldwide. The epidemic has resulted in mandatory quarantines, travel restrictions, and the temporary closure of stores and facilities in certain parts of the world. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 a pandemic.

The extent to which the COVID-19 outbreak might impact our results will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including but not limited to new information on the effectiveness of the mitigation strategies, the duration, spread, severity and recurrence of COVID-19 and any COVID-19 variants and related travel advisories, policy changes, and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, which may also take extended time to be widely and adequately distributed. We may need to adjust our forecast downward or record impairment of the fair value of our investments should the situation continue to worsen.

In our market, we mainly compete with other established streaming platforms and other entertainment mediums. If we are unable to compete effectively, our business and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

Since running a successful livestreaming platform requires intensive capital outlay and a large team of quality streamers, who remain in short supply due to the fact that most have signed contracts with existing platforms, there are high entry barriers for our industry. As a result, our major competitors are streaming platforms with an established presence in the industry, as well as other short or medium video platforms, social media platforms and other online entertainment platforms. While such competition may only come from a few established players instead of many newcomers, competition remains intense. As it is unlikely that viewers will watch streams on two platforms at once, and most top streamers sign exclusive contracts with only one platform, we compete mainly for user traffic and top streamers. If we are not able to effectively compete with other platforms, our overall user base and level of user engagement may decrease, which may result in loss of top streamers to other platforms. Such loss may also lead to fewer paying users and make us less attractive to advertisers and game developers and publishers, which may adversely affect our monetization success.

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To better compete with other platforms which may have more cash, traffic, technological advantages, top streamers, business networks and other resources than we do, we may be required to spend additional resources, which may adversely affect our profitability. Furthermore, if we are involved in disputes with any of our competitors that result in negative publicity for us, such disputes, regardless of their veracity or outcome, may harm our reputation or brand image and in turn lead to reduced numbers of viewers and streamers. Our competitors may unilaterally decide to adopt a wide range of measures targeted at us, including approaching our top streamers, purchasing exclusive streaming rights to eSports tournaments or events that used to be streamed on our platform, or even attacking our platform. Any legal proceedings or measures we take in response to competition and disputes with our competitors may be expensive, time-consuming and disruptive to our operations and divert our management’s attention.

We believe that our ability to compete effectively depends upon many factors both within and beyond our control, including:

In addition, our users have a vast array of entertainment choices. Other forms of entertainment, such as other online video services including video platforms, social networking, traditional PC and console games, as well as more traditional mediums such as television, movies and sports spectating, are much more well-established in mature markets and may be perceived by our users to offer greater variety, affordability, interactivity and enjoyment. Our platform competes against these other forms of entertainment for the discretionary time and spending of our users. If we are unable to sustain sufficient interest in our platform in comparison to other forms of entertainment, including new forms of entertainment that may emerge in the future, our business model may no longer be viable.

Our revenue growth is heavily dependent on paying users and revenue per paying user. If we fail to continue to grow or maintain our paying users and continue to increase revenue per paying user, our livestreaming and other revenue may not increase, which may materially and adversely affect our business operation and financial results.

Our annual paying user base was 17.5 million in 2021 and 15.5 million in 2022. Whether we can increase the number of our paying users depends on many factors, including internal factors such as changes in our operational strategy and external factors that are out of our control. For example, our paying users may have less disposable income as they need to meet financial obligations elsewhere, they may decide to no longer support a particular streamer that they used to follow financially, and overall worsening economic conditions can lower disposable income for all existing paying users, causing them to spend less on our platform. We expect that our business will continue to be heavily dependent on revenue collected from paying users in the near future.

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We have significant reliance on revenues from virtual gift sales. Any limitation imposed by PRC authorities on the sale, exchange or circulation of virtual gifts in the future may reduce the virtual gift payments our users make to streamers, which is critical to our business and results of operations. In November 2020, the NRTA, promulgated the Notice on Strengthening the Management of Online Show Livestreaming and E-commerce Livestreaming, or Notice 78, which requires the livestreaming platform to set a limit on the maximum amount of virtual gifting per time, per day, and per month. On February 9, 2021, the CAC, the National Office of Anti-Pornography and Illegal Publication, the MIIT, the Ministry of Public Security, the MCT, the SAMR, and the NRTA jointly issued the Guidance Opinions on the Strengthening the Regulation and Management Work of Internet Streaming, or the 2021 Streaming Guidance Opinions. Pursuant to the 2021 Streaming Guidance Opinions, Internet streaming platforms should set up appropriate caps on the maximum purchase price for each piece of virtual gift and maximum value of virtual gifts that the users may give to the streamers each time, and should notify the users who reach the daily cap of giving virtual gifts. Internet streaming platforms are further required, if necessary, to set up a cooling-off period and a delayed-fund-transfer system for giving virtual gifts, and are required to implement a tiered and classified management system over the streamers in which different maximum values of a virtual gift to be received by streamers in one streaming session shall be established differently in accordance with the tiers and classes that the streamers belong to. Notice 78 and the 2021 Streaming Guidance Opinions are silent on the specific amount of such caps. As the Notice 78 and the 2021 Streaming Guidance Opinions are relatively new and pending further interpretation and implementation, we are still in the process of waiting for further guidance from regulatory authorities and evaluating the applicability and effect of the various requirements under Notice 78 and the 2021 Streaming Guidance Opinions. Stricter limitations on giving virtual gifts may restrict our users’ ability to give virtual gifts to streamers, and result in decline in the number of paying users, so our results of financials and operations may be materially and adversely affected. See “—Our business may suffer if we fail to successfully implement our monetization strategies.”

We generate a portion of our revenues from advertisement. If we fail to maintain or grow advertisement revenue, our financial results may be adversely affected.

In 2020, 2021 and 2022, we generated RMB645.2 million, RMB464.9 million and RMB190.3 million (US$27.6 million) from the sale of advertisements, representing 6.7%, 5.1% and 2.7% of our total revenues for the same period. If we fail to maintain or grow our revenue from advertisement, our financial results could be adversely affected. For us to maintain or grow our advertisement revenue, we need to attract more advertisers to our platforms with our increased user traffic and engagement level, or offer more variety in terms of advertisement products that encourage more spending from advertisers. We offer (i) integrated promotion activities during livestreaming, (ii) advertisement display and (iii) online and offline events-related advertisements. We may need to introduce more innovative promotion activities to maintain our revenues from advertisement, and failure to do so may adversely impact our advertisement revenue. In addition, traditional display advertisements are subject to time and space restrictions, especially when displayed on mobile devices which have become popular among our users. As a result, our business and results of operations may be adversely impacted.

Advertisement revenue is also affected by the online advertising industry in China and advertisers’ allocation of budgets to internet advertising and promotion. Companies that decide to advertise or promote online may utilize more established methods or channels for online advertising and promotion, such as more established Chinese internet portals or search engines, over advertising and promotion on our platforms. If the online advertising market size does not increase from current levels, or if we are unable to capture and retain a sufficient share of that market, our ability to maintain or increase our current level of advertisement revenue and our profitability and prospects could be adversely affected.

If we fail to obtain or maintain the required licenses and approvals or if we fail to comply with laws and regulations applicable to our industry, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

The internet industry in China is highly regulated, which requires certain licenses, permits, filings and approvals to conduct and develop business. Currently, we have obtained the following valid licenses through our PRC variable interest entities: Value-added Telecommunication Business License for provision of internet information services, or the ICP License, Online Culture Business License for operating online culture products, Commercial Performance License for providing streamer agency services, License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs for providing online streaming of video and License for Production and Operation of Radio and Television Programs for producing radio and television programs.

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Due to the uncertainties of interpretation and implementation of existing and future laws and regulations, the licenses we held may be deemed insufficient by governmental authorities, which may restrain our ability to expand our business scope and may subject us to fines or other regulatory actions by relevant regulators if our practice is deemed as violating relevant laws and regulations. As we develop and expand our business scope, we may need to obtain additional qualifications, permits, approvals or licenses. Moreover, we may be required to obtain additional licenses or approvals if the PRC government adopts more stringent policies or regulations for our industry.

For example, according to the Administrative Provisions for Audio/Video Programs Services through Internet, or the Audio/Video Measures, which was promulgated by the State Administration for Radio, Film and Television, or the SARFT (subsequently known as the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, or the SAPPRFT, and currently known as National Radio and Television Administration, or the NRTA), which came into effect on January 31, 2008, and was amended on August 28, 2015, to engage in the business of transmitting audio/video programs, a License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs is required. We have obtained the License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs for offering live video programs on our platforms. Further, the License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs is subject to periodical renewal. Although we have successfully renewed it in the past, there is no guarantee that we will be able to continue to do so in the future. We may not be able to continue to hold the License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs. The scope specified in our License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs may not be able to cover all the needs that arise or will arise in our operations from time to time, and we may not be able to expand the scope of our License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs under the current regulatory regime as we are not a wholly state-owned or state-controlled entity as required for holding such license under PRC laws. Failure to expand the scope of our current License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs or to continue to hold such license may result in fines or other penalties being imposed on us, which may adversely affect our business. In addition, for the purpose of providing internet audio/video program service, we have adopted and will adopt various operating strategies and measures. Due to the uncertainties of interpretation and application of pertinent laws by the government authority, such strategies and measures may be challenged under PRC laws and regulations and if so, we may be subject to fines, confiscation-of-income related or other penalties and, in certain circumstances, suspension or revocation of the license, which may materially and adversely affect our business.

In addition, publishing and the commercial launch of domestic online games is subject to the pre-approval by the National Press and Publication Administration, or the NPPA. The NPPA suspended such permission from March to December 2018 and has since restored it. Such suspension caused significant delays in the approval of the online games in the Chinese market. As a result, game publishers may not be able to obtain approval or make timely filings with the NPPA for their online games or at all. In December 2019, the Department of Law Enforcement of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism further published a circular reiterating that online games streamed or operated by livestreaming platforms shall also obtain requisite pre-approvals from the NPPA. In March 2021, the National Municipal Office of Anti-Pornography and Illegal Publication and the NPPA jointly launched the “New Trend 2021” campaign , reiterating that a livestreaming platform shall not stream online games which have not obtained the approval from the NPPA. The “Cleaning Up the Internet” campaigns launched by the relevant authorities have also inspected and imposed penalties in connection with livestreaming of non-approved online games. On April 12, 2022, the Online Audio-visual Program Management Department of NRTA and the Publishing Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department jointly issued the Notice on Strengthening the Management of Livestreaming of Online Games on the Online Audio-visual Program Platforms, which reiterates that online audio-visual program platforms, including live streaming platforms are prohibited from disseminating illegal games on audio-visual program platforms, streaming online games that have not been approved by the competent authorities and using livestreaming rooms and other forms to drive traffic for the illegal game content on various platforms. Although the game publishers are responsible for obtaining the required approvals, filings or permits for these online games streamed or operated on our platform, we may still be subject to fines, confiscation of income from these games, suspension of operations, revocation of licenses and other penalties due to game publishers’ failure to obtain such approvals, filings or permits, which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. Given our significant reliance on eSports content, if game publishers and operators fail to maintain the normal publication and operation of their online games, or fail to complete or obtain the necessary approvals and filings of their online games, or if more stringent regulations are adopted or the government authority takes more strict regulation or action against the online games industry or livestreaming industry in the future, our business, operation and financial condition will be adversely impacted.

As the internet industry in China is still at a relatively early stage of development, new laws and regulations may be adopted from time to time to address new issues that come to the authorities’ attention. Considerable uncertainties still exist with respect to the interpretation and implementation of existing and future laws and regulations governing our business activities. We could be found in violation of any future laws and regulations or any of the laws or regulations currently in effect due to changes in the relevant authorities’ interpretation of these laws and regulations. See “—We may be materially and adversely affected by the complexity, uncertainties and changes in PRC regulation of the Internet industry and companies.”

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As of the date of this annual report, we have not received any material penalties from the relevant government authorities for our past operations. We cannot assure you, however, that the government authorities will not do so in the future. In addition, we may be required to obtain additional license or permits, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to timely obtain or maintain all the required licenses or permits or make all the necessary filings in the future. If we fail to obtain, hold or maintain any of the required licenses or permits or make the necessary filings on time or at all, we may be subject to various penalties, such as confiscation of the net revenues that were generated through the unlicensed activities, the imposition of fines and the discontinuation or restriction of our operations. Any such penalties may disrupt our operations and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims or other allegations by third parties for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our platform, or distributed to our users, or for proprietary information appropriated by former employees, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects.

We have been and may, in the future, be subject to intellectual property infringement claims or other allegations by third parties for services we provide or for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to, recorded, stored or made accessible on our platform, or otherwise distributed to our users, including in connection with the music, movies, video and games played, recorded, stored or made accessible on our platform, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects.

Under our agreements with top streamers, we obtain the license for the intellectual property arising from their livestreaming on our platform. We have implemented internal control measures to ensure that the design of our platform and the content that is streamed on it does not infringe on valid intellectual property, such as patents and copyrights held by third parties. We also license certain intellectual properties from third parties to implement certain functions available on our platform.

However, companies in the internet, technology and media industries are frequently involved in litigation based on allegations of infringement of intellectual property rights, unfair competition, invasion of privacy, defamation and other violations of other parties’ rights. In China, the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights in internet-related industries, especially in our evolving livestreaming industry, are uncertain and still evolving. We face, from time to time, and expect to face in the future, allegations that we have featured pirated or illegally downloaded music and movies on our platform, and that we have infringed on the trademarks, copyrights, patents and other intellectual property rights of third parties, including our competitors, or allegations that we are involved in unfair trade practices. Some of the game streaming on our platform may be alleged to infringe on the copyright on works of literature and art of a game of the game producers, which may also constitute an unfair competition claim. As we face increasing competition and as litigation becomes a more common method for resolving commercial disputes in China, we face a higher risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement claims or other legal proceedings.

We allow streamers to upload text, graphics, audio, video and other content to our platform and users to download, share, link to and otherwise access games and other content on our platform and we also upload high-quality video clips recorded and restored from selective livestreaming content. Under applicable PRC laws and regulations, online service providers, which provide storage space for users to upload works or links to other services or content, could be held liable for copyright infringement under various circumstances, including situations where the online service provider knows or should reasonably have known that the relevant content uploaded or linked to on its platform infringes upon the copyright of others and the online service provider failed to take necessary actions to prevent such infringement. We have procedures implemented to reduce the likelihood that content might be used without proper licenses or third-party consents. However, these procedures may not be effective in preventing the unauthorized posting or distribution of copyrighted content and we may be considered as failing to take necessary actions against such infringement. Therefore, we may face liability for copyright or trademark infringement, defamation, unfair competition, libel, negligence and other claims based on the nature and content of the materials that are delivered, shared or otherwise accessed through our platform.

Certain of our employees were previously employed at other peer companies, including our current and potential competitors. To the extent that these employees are involved in the development of content or technology similar to ours at their former employers, we may become subject to claims that such employees, or we, may have appropriated proprietary information or intellectual properties of the former employers of our employees. If we fail to successfully defend such claims, our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Defending claims is costly and can impose a significant burden on our management and employees, and there can be no assurances that favorable final outcomes will be obtained in all cases. Such claims, even if they do not result in liability, may harm our reputation. Any resulting liability or expenses, or changes required to our platform to reduce the risk of future liability, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and prospects.

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We may be held liable for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our platform, or distributed to our users if such content is deemed to violate any PRC laws or regulations, and PRC authorities may impose legal sanctions on us.

We are a livestreaming platform that enables our users to exchange information, generate content, advertise products and services, and engage in various other online activities. Although real-name registration is required for streamers by our platform, we may not be able to verify the identity information provided by our streamers as true and accurate. For registration of users, we verify identities primarily based on verification text messages sent to their mobile devices, which may not always be reliable. As a majority of the video and audio communications on our platform is conducted in real time, we cannot filter the content generated by our streamers and users on air before they are streamed on our platform. Therefore, users may solicit or engage in illegal conversations or activities, including publishing inappropriate or illegal content on our platforms that may be prohibited under PRC laws and regulations, or participating in voice-based interactions containing inappropriate or illegal content with streamers. See “—Our content monitoring system may not be effective in preventing misconduct by our platform users and misuse of our platform, and such misconduct or misuse may materially and adversely impact our brand image, business and operating results.”

We require users to agree to our terms of service upon account registration. Our terms of service set out types of content strictly prohibited on our platform, and we have also developed a robust content monitoring system. However, although we use our best efforts to monitor content on our platform, we cannot detect every incident of inappropriate content on our platform due to the immense quantity of user-generated content, and as such, government authorities may hold us liable for inappropriate content on our platform. Although we report violations of our terms of service to PRC local authorities, such authorities may not take any action with respect to these violations on a timely basis, if at all. On December 15, 2019, the CAC promulgated the Provisions on the Ecological Governance of Network Information Contents, which became effective on March 1, 2020. It requires network platform operators like us not to disseminate illegal contents that, among other things, violates PRC laws and regulations, impairs the national dignity of China or the public interest, nor to present obscure, superstitious, fraudulent, gambling, violent, defamatory, exaggerated, sexually suggestive, discriminative or other inappropriate contents that are “socially destabilizing” or leaking “state secrets” of China. Notice 78 also requests the livestreaming platforms to strengthen positive value guidance and to prevent the spread of the information related to wealth flaunting, money worshiping and vulgarity. In addition, on June 8, 2022, the NRTA, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, or the MCT jointly issued the Code of Conduct for Live-streamers to regulate the behaviours of streamers on livestreaming platforms. The Code of Conduct for Live-streamers lists 31 categories of content that are prohibited in online streaming. For example, during live streaming sessions, streamers shall not behave extravagantly or waste food, flaunt luxury goods, jewelry and other assets, or display sexually suggestive and provocative content. For live streaming content that requires a high level of professional skills (such as medical and health care, finance, law and education), streamers must have relevant professional qualifications and register with the livestreaming platforms. In addition, the Code of Conduct for Live-streamers requires livestreaming platforms to establish comprehensive internal policies to manage streamers on their platforms, including, among other things, recruitment, training, daily management, performance evaluation and violation record management. Livestreaming platforms should ban the accounts of streamers who have repeatedly or seriously violated the Code of Conduct for Live-streamers or applicable rules and regulations and put them on a “black list” or a “warning list”. Local government authorities shall regularly inspect livestreaming platforms and hold them responsible for any streamer who has violated these rules. We have adopted various actions and internal policies to manage our streamers to comply with the Code of Conduct for Live-Streamers or other applicable laws and regulations, including taking special actions to correct the misconduct of streamers from time to time, strengthening the content monitoring, screening illicit and/or inappropriate content and charging penalties to streamers who has violated certain provisions of the Code of Conduct, strengthening the internal compliance review of products, services and streamers in respect of taxation and other laws, in order to avoid the Company’s and streamers’ violations of the Code of Conduct and other applicable laws and regulations. Our legal department also conducts regular trainings to streamers, talent agencies and various business departments of the Company in connection with the Code of Conduct. However, it is uncertain as to if streamers on our platform can consistently remain in compliance with the Code of Conduct for Live-streamers or other applicable laws and regulations and we may need to terminate cooperation with those streamers who have been found in serious violation of the code of conduct or other applicable laws and regulations. We may be subject to fines or other disciplinary actions, including, in serious cases, suspension or revocation of the licenses necessary to operate our platform if we are deemed to have facilitated the appearance of inappropriate content placed by third parties on our platform under PRC laws and regulations. In addition, application stores may temporarily take down our applications if the content was deemed to violate applicable PRC laws or regulations. Meanwhile, we may face claims for defamation, libel, negligence, copyright, patent or trademark infringement, other unlawful activities or other theories and claims based on the nature and content of the information delivered on or otherwise accessed through our platform. Defending any such actions could be costly and require significant time and attention of our management and other resources, which would materially and adversely affect our business.

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We may be materially and adversely affected by the complexity, uncertainties and changes in PRC regulation of the Internet industry and companies.

The PRC government extensively regulates the Internet industry, including foreign ownership of, and the licensing and permit requirements pertaining to, companies in the Internet industry. These Internet-related laws and regulations are relatively new and evolving, and their interpretation and enforcement involve significant uncertainties, so we may be subject to the interpretations made in policies and guidelines of regulators. As a result, in certain circumstances it may be difficult to determine what actions or omissions may be deemed to be in violation of applicable laws and regulations. Issues, risks and uncertainties relating to PRC regulation of the Internet business include, but are not limited to, the following:

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The interpretation and application of existing PRC laws, regulations and policies and possible new laws, regulations or policies relating to the Internet industry have created substantial uncertainties regarding the legality of existing and future foreign investments in, and the businesses and activities of, Internet businesses in China, including our business. There are also risks that we may be found to violate existing or future laws and regulations given the uncertainty and complexity of China’s regulation of Internet business.

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Increases in the costs of content on our platform, such as higher streamer compensation and recruitment cost for top streamers, may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We need to continue offering popular and attractive content on our platform to provide our viewers with engaging and satisfying viewing experiences, and our ability to provide such content is dependent on our ability to attract and retain top streamers. We enter into exclusive contracts with our top streamers, under which they are paid a base compensation in addition to a certain percentage of the sales of virtual gifts that they receive. We also sponsor pro players and eSports teams to have them stream their gameplay on our platform. The compensation and recruitment costs that we incur with respect to retaining top streamers may increase, depending on the streamers’ revenue contribution. If our competitor platforms offer higher compensation with an intent to attract our popular streamers, costs to retain our streamers may increase. If we are not able to continue to retain our streamers and produce high quality content on our platform at commercially acceptable costs, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely impacted. Furthermore, as our business and user base further expands, we may have to devote more resources in encouraging our streamers to produce content that meets the varied interests of a diverse user base, which would increase the costs of contents on our platform. If we are unable to generate sufficient revenues that outpace our increased content costs, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Any compromise to the cyber security of our platform could materially and adversely affect our business, reputation and results of operations.

On November 7, 2016, the SCNPC released the PRC Cyber Security Law, which took effect on June 1, 2017. The PRC Cyber Security Law requires network operators to fulfill certain obligations to safeguard security in cyberspace and enhance network information management.

Our products and services are generally provided through the Internet and involve the storage and transmission of users’ information. Any security breach would expose us to a risk of loss of information and result in litigation and potential liability. As the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade Internet services or sabotage operating systems change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we may not be able to anticipate such techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. Our user data is encrypted and saved in two different places within our internal servers rather than client-based servers, protected by access control, and further backed up in our long-distance disaster recovery system, so as to minimize the possibility of data loss or breach. Upon a security breach, our technical team will be notified immediately and coordinate with the local supporting staff to diagnose and solve the technical problems. As of the date of this annual report, we have not experienced any material incidents of security breach.

Despite the security measures we have implemented, our facilities, systems and procedures and those of our third-party providers, may be vulnerable to security breaches, acts of vandalism, software viruses, misplaced or lost data, programming or human errors or other similar events which may disrupt our delivery of services or expose the confidential information of our users and others. If an actual or perceived breach of our security occurs, the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures could be harmed, we may lose current and potential users and may be exposed to legal and financial risks, including legal claims, regulatory fines and penalties, which in turn could adversely affect our business, reputation and results of operations.

Our operations depend on the performance of the Internet infrastructure and fixed telecommunications networks in China, which may experience unexpected system failure, interruption, inadequacy or security breaches.

Almost all access to the Internet in China is maintained through state-owned telecommunication operators under the administrative control and regulatory supervision of MIIT. Moreover, we primarily rely on a limited number of telecommunication service providers to provide us with data communications capacity through local telecommunications lines and Internet data centers to host our servers. We have limited access to alternative networks or services in the event of disruptions, failures or other problems with China’s Internet infrastructure or the fixed telecommunications networks provided by telecommunication service providers. Web traffic in China has experienced significant growth during the past few years. Effective bandwidth and server storage at Internet data centers in large cities such as Beijing are scarce. With the expansion of our business, we may be required to upgrade our technology and infrastructure to keep up with the increasing traffic on our platform. We cannot assure you that the Internet infrastructure and the fixed telecommunications networks in China can support the demands associated with the continued growth in Internet usage. If we cannot increase our capacity to deliver our online services, we may not be able to accommodate the increases in traffic we anticipate from our expanding user base, and the adoption of our services may be hindered, which could adversely impact our business and profitability.

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In addition, we have no control over the costs of the services provided by telecommunication service providers. If the prices we pay for telecommunications and Internet services rise significantly, our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, if Internet access fees or other charges to Internet users increase, some users may be prevented from accessing the mobile Internet and thus cause the growth of mobile Internet users to decelerate. Such deceleration may adversely affect our ability to continue to expand our user base.

The proper functioning of our platform is essential to our business. Any disruption to our IT systems could materially affect our ability to maintain the satisfactory performance of our platform.

The proper functioning of our platform is essential to our business. The satisfactory performance, reliability and availability of our IT systems are critical to our success and our ability to provide content to attract and retain users.

Our technology or infrastructure may not function properly at all times. Any system interruptions caused by telecommunications failures, computer viruses, hacking or other attempts to harm our systems could result in the unavailability or slowdown of our platform and the attractiveness of content provided on it. Our servers may also be vulnerable to computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins and similar disruptions, which could lead to system interruptions, website or mobile app slowdown or unavailability or loss of data. Any such occurrences could cause severe disruption to our daily operations. As a result, our reputation may be materially and adversely affected, our market share could decline and we could be subject to liability claims.

Our core values of focusing on user experience and satisfaction first and acting for the long-term may conflict with the short-term operating results of our business, and also negatively impact our relationships with advertisers or other third parties.

One of our core values is to focus on user experience and satisfaction, which we believe is essential to our success and serves the best, long-term interests of our company and our shareholders. Therefore, we have made, and may make in the future, significant investments or changes in strategy that we think will benefit our users, even if our decision negatively impacts our operating results in the short-term. For example, in order to provide users of our platform with uninterrupted entertainment options, we do not place significant advertising on our platform. While this decision adversely affects our operating results in the short-term, we believe it enables us to provide higher quality user experience on our platform, which will help us expand and maintain our current large user base and create better monetizing potential in the long-term. In addition, this philosophy of putting our users first may also negatively impact our relationships with advertisers or other third parties, and may not result in the long-term benefits that we expect, in which case the success of our business and operating results could be harmed.

We cooperate with various talent agencies to manage our streamers. If we are not able to maintain our relationship with talent agencies, our operations may be materially and adversely affected.

We cooperate with talent agencies to manage and organize streamers on our platform. As we are an open platform that welcomes all streamers to register on our platform, cooperation with talent agencies increases our operational efficiency in terms of discovering, supporting and managing streamers in a more organized and structured manner and turning amateur streamers to full-time streamers.

We pay certain of our streamers or their talent agencies fees based on a percentage of revenue from virtual gift sales that is attributable to the streamers’ livestreams. If we cannot balance the interests between us and the streamers and the talent agencies design a compensation system that is agreeable to both streamers and talent agencies, we may not be able to retain or attract streamers or talent agencies, or both.

In addition, some of the talent agencies have exclusive cooperation relationships with us. If other platforms offer better incentive to talent agencies, such talent agencies may choose to devote more of their resources to streamers who stream on the other platforms, or they may encourage their streamers to use or even enter into an exclusive agreement with other platforms, all of which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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We use third-party services and technologies in connection with our business, and any disruption to the provision of these services and technologies to us could result in adverse publicity and a slowdown in the growth of our users, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business depends upon services provided by, and relationships with, third parties. For example, some third-party software we use in our operations is currently publicly available without charge. If the owner of any such software decides to make claims against us, charge users, or no longer makes the software publicly available, we may need to enter into settlement with such owners, incur significant cost to license the software, find replacement software or develop it on our own. If we are unable to find or develop replacement software at a reasonable cost, or at all, our business and operations may be adversely affected.

Our overall network relies on broadband connections provided by third-party operators and we expect this dependence on third parties to continue. The networks maintained and services provided by such third parties are vulnerable to damage or interruption, which could impact our results of operations. See “—Our operations depend on the performance of the Internet infrastructure and fixed telecommunications networks in China, which may experience unexpected system failure, interruption, inadequacy or security breaches.”

We also sell a significant portion of our products and services through third-party online payment systems. If any of these third-party online payment systems suffer from security breaches, users may lose confidence in such payment systems and refrain from purchasing our virtual gifts online, in which case our results of operations would be negatively impacted.

We exercise no control over the third parties with whom we have business arrangements. For some services and technologies, such as online payment systems, we rely on a limited number of third-party providers with limited access to alternative networks or services in the event of disruptions, failures or other problems. If such third parties increase their prices, fail to provide their services effectively, terminate their service or agreements or discontinue their relationships with us, we could suffer service interruptions, reduced revenues or increased costs, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business depends on a strong brand, and any failure to maintain, protect and enhance our brand would hurt our ability to retain or expand our user and customer base, or our ability to increase their level of engagement.

In China, we market our services under the brand “斗鱼”. Our business and financial performance are highly dependent on the strength and the market perception of our brand and services. A well-recognized brand is critical to increasing our user base and, in turn, facilitating our efforts to monetize our services and enhancing our attractiveness to customers. From time to time, we conduct marketing activities across various media to enhance our brand and to guide public perception of our brand and services. In order to create and maintain brand awareness and brand loyalty, to influence public perception and to retain existing and attract new mobile users, customers and platform partners, we may need to substantially increase our marketing expenditures. Since we operate in a highly competitive market, brand maintenance and enhancement directly affect our ability to maintain our market position. We must exercise strict quality control of our platform to ensure that our brand image is not tarnished by substandard products or services. We must also find ways to distinguish our platform from those of our competitors. If for any reason we are unable to maintain and enhance our brand recognition, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our business, results of operations and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

Concerns about the collection, use and disclosure of personal data and other privacy-related and security matters could deter customers and users from using our services and adversely affect our reputation and business.

We collect, process, and store data concerning our users, business partners and employees, including personal and transaction data involving our users. Concerns about our practices with regard to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information or other privacy-related and security matters, even if unfounded, could damage our reputation and operations.

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On November 28, 2019, the Secretary Bureau of the CAC, the General Office of the MIIT, the General Office of the Ministry of Public Security and the General Office of the SAMR promulgated the Identification Method of Illegal Collection and Use of Personal Information Through App, which provides guidance for the regulatory authorities to identify the illegal collection and use of personal information through mobile apps, and for the app operators to conduct self-examination and self-correction and for other participants to voluntarily monitor compliance. The PRC Constitution, the PRC Criminal Law, the PRC Civil Code and the PRC Cyber Security Law protect individual privacy in general, which requires certain authorization or consent from Internet users prior to collection, use or disclosure of their personal data and also protection of the security of the personal data of such users. In particular, Amendment 7 to the PRC Criminal Law prohibits institutions, companies and their employees in the telecommunications and other industries from selling or otherwise illegally disclosing a citizen’s personal information obtained during the course of performing duties or providing services. On January 23, 2019, the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission and other authorities jointly vowed to carry out special campaigns against illegal collection and usage of personal information by mobile Internet application operators, including collecting personal information irrelevant to their services, or forcing users to give authorization in disguised manner. On July 22, 2020, the MIIT issued the Notice on Carrying out Special Rectification Actions in Depth against the Infringement on Users’ Rights and Interests by Apps to urge app service providers, among others, to strengthen the protection of users’ personal information in relation to the download, installing and upgrade of apps. On March 12, 2021, the CAC, the MIIT and the Ministry of Public Security issued the Notice on Promulgation of the Rules on the Scope of Necessary Personal Information for Common Types of Mobile Internet Applications, which provides that network operators shall not collect personal information irrelevant to the services they provide and the app operators shall not refuse to provide basic services to users on the grounds of users’ refusal to provide their personal non-essential information. Further, on August 20, 2021, the SCNPC promulgated the PRC Personal Information Protection Law, which became effective on November 1, 2021. The PRC Personal Information Protection Law provides detailed rules on how to handle personal information and sets forth legal responsibilities. See “Item 4. Information of the Company—4.B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Relating to Privacy Protection” for detailed information. Our internal policy requires our employees to protect the personal data of our users, and employees who violate such policy are subject to disciplinary actions, including dismissal. While we strive to comply with all applicable data protection laws and regulations, as well as our own privacy policies, any failure or perceived failure to comply may result in proceedings or actions against us by government entities or private individuals, which could have an adverse effect on our business. Moreover, failure or perceived failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations related to the collection, use, or sharing of personal information or other privacy-related and security matters could result in a loss of confidence in us by customers and users, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As we continue to expand overseas, foreign and international laws, regulations, standards, and other obligations, and changes in the interpretation of such laws, regulations, standards, and other obligations could result in increased regulation, increased costs of compliance and penalties for non-compliance, and limitations on data collection, use, disclosure, and transfer for us and our users. In 2016, the European Union (“EU”) adopted a new regulation governing data privacy called the General Data Protection Regulation, or the GDPR, which became effective in May 2018. The GDPR establishes new requirements applicable to the handling of personal data and imposes penalties for non-compliance of up to 4% of worldwide revenue. In addition, to the extent we deploy services of any third-party suppliers to support our overseas business, we must continue to seek assurances from our sub-processors that they are handling personal data in accordance with GDPR requirements in order to meet our own obligations under the GDPR. In addition, in June 2018, the California Consumer Privacy Act, or the CCPA, which takes effect on January 1, 2020, was enacted. The CCPA gives California consumers certain rights similar to those provided by the GDPR, and users may seek similar assurances from suppliers regarding compliance.

Our overseas operations may not be successful and may be adversely affected by legal, regulatory, political and economic risks.

We began our overseas expansion through acquisition of Nonolive in 2018, which is a mobile livestreaming platform focused on the Southeast Asia market. We also expanded into other overseas markets through various channels, such as Japan. As we operate the overseas markets, we may be subject to the laws of the foreign countries. If any of our overseas operations violate such laws, we could become subject to sanctions or other penalties, which could negatively affect our reputation, business and operating results.