Taiwan rule change cuts off 2 million iQiyi users

Taiwan authorities have banned local agents from providing access to over-the-top (OTT) services provided by mainland streaming sites. The regulation was implemented early this month and gave some warning for companies to suspend the services.

iQiyi's OTT agent in Taiwan announced on September 21 that it would stop providing the service after October 15. The agency has already stopped selling iQiyi memberships, as of September 3. The implementation of the new regulation will affect 2 million iQiyi users in Taiwan.

Taiwan authorities have been considering the ban since May to curb the influence of mainland streaming platforms. The government changed a list of prohibited commercial activities, and the ban on local agents providing OTT TV service for Chinese firms was the only update.

We TV, an OTT service in Taiwan provided by Tencent, is also affected by the regulation change. The service has not announced any change so far, and Tencent declined to comment for this article.

YouTube, Line TV and Netflix also offer their OTT services in Taiwan.