On the evening of July 13th, the top anchor of Douyin with over 18 million fans, Luo Wangyu, announced his “withdrawal from the internet,” and at the same time, he will face a sky-high refund of 150 million yuan.
According to Blue Whale News, on the evening of July 13th, Luo Wangyu released a video announcing his “withdrawal from the internet,” and the even more surprising news was the 150 million yuan refund he will be facing.
Previously, Luo Wangyu was criticized by a testing blogger for promoting olive oil essence products that “do not contain olive oil,” and this is not the first time he has faced controversy over ingredient and efficacy issues.
On the evening of July 12th, after a gap of 5 months, Luo Wangyu released a work, and in the live streaming industry where “high-frequency operations” are demanded, Luo Wangyu’s update frequency was very unusual. This stems from the “false advertising of olive oil” incident he was involved in back in February this year.
In February this year, the Douyin testing blogger “Da Hu Ke Representative” released a comparison testing report, selecting 6 olive oil essence products to test the content of two active ingredients – oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol. As a result, the brand “CSS” had no detection of the above two ingredients.
The rapidly escalating public opinion put the blogger Luo Wangyu, who had once endorsed the product, in the center of the storm. This controversy caused Luo Wangyu to lose over 1.35 million fans in a short period of time.
According to reports, as the testing blogger’s results were verified by the China National Inspection and Quarantine Institute’s Beijing Inspection Science (Cosmetics) Technology Co., Ltd., Luo Wangyu sent a lawyer’s letter to CSS on March 2, and also reported CSS for suspected false advertising. Luo Wangyu also promised that if he wins the case, the brand will compensate consumers for their losses, and if he loses, he will compensate on his own.
Now, three months have passed, and not receiving the compensation from the brand, Luo Wangyu fears losing the trust of his fans and ultimately decided to refund the consumers first.
In his video on the evening of July 12th, Luo Wangyu stated that there is no clear legal judgment yet, and he is worried about the complex and lengthy compensation process. Therefore, he decided to personally refund consumers for the relevant products, with an astonishing amount of 150 million yuan.
In 2019, Luo Wangyu began to enter the self-media industry, quickly rising to fame by criticizing and revealing secrets of top skincare brands. In just one year, he accumulated over 6 million fans and created a record of 13 million sales through a single short video on Douyin. According to data from Feigua, on October 26, 2022, Luo Wangyu’s live streaming room ranked first in the list of anchor sales, with sales exceeding billions.
In April 2023, White Rabbit Holdings, which owns Luo Wangyu, “Special Ula La,” “Zhang Xixi,” and other top KOLs, received consecutive rounds of financing. According to the “Daily Economic News” report, the latest round of strategic investment was made by the Sichuan Cultural Industry Fund, marking the first time that state-owned capital has invested in the MCN track.