An influencer in China is making headlines again for trying to sell an expensive new live-streaming course despite being suspended from it two years ago!
Zhang Qingyan and Zhang Kaiyang are popular twin brother content creators, better known as Crazy Younger Brother Yang and Crazy Older Brother Yang, who have posted funny short videos on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, about their interactions with each other and their family since 2018. They launched the agency Three Sheep Network with a partner three years later, which works with hundreds of social media personalities and live-streamers.
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However, the company sparked backlash in September 2024 when they started selling mooncakes, which are traditionally consumed during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Qingyan reportedly began promoting “Hong Kong Meisun Mooncakes,” which he claimed were from an over two-decade-old “high-end brand” and made in Hong Kong. However, regulators reportedly soon discovered the influencer allegedly lied after launching an investigation! The mooncakes reportedly were produced in the southern Guangdong province and had never been sold in Hong Kong.
Three Sheep Network apologized on their Douyin account for “falsely advertising and misleading consumers” and promised to “conduct thorough rectifications within the company.” The government ended up fining them nearly 70 million yuan — or $10.3 million! Damn!
Plus, all their social media accounts were suspended from live streaming! And while Three Sheep Network’s signed content creators continued business as usual, the brothers didn’t… until now! One of them is back and with an eyebrow-raising new business venture!
In June, an account called Three Sheep Group Class reportedly released promotional videos for offline e-commerce classes taught by Zhang Kaiyang, the older brother. The advertisement claimed the course is to train beginners who want to make money through live streaming, and he would show students how to boost online traffic and choose a theme for video creation. But the catch? Uou must pay a hefty price to learn all this through Kaiyang! A three-day course costs 1,980 yuan or $290, while a 28-day course is 19,980 yuan or around $2,950! Yeesh!
The course quickly went viral, but days later, the twins’ company deleted all the course promotion videos AND removed the purchase links! They didn’t explain why they withdrew the classes. Something tells us, though, that it has to do with the fact that they’re not even allowed to live stream these days! We mean, why would anyone want to spend their money to learn how to become a live streamer from them, especially after they got in trouble before? Just saying!
Thoughts, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments (below)!
[Image via PerezHilton.com]
