Viya and Dong did not respond to requests for comment.

The sudden rise and fall of China's most famous influencers underscores the vulnerability of those who depend on the internet for their livelihood in the world's second-largest economy.

While Li and Viya were almost certainly censored by the government, the crackdown on livestreamers is part of a wider Communist Party regulatory effort to enforce greater supervision over private industries, ranging from tech to real estate.

Since coming to power in 2012, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation." A tighter control over all aspects of society -— business, education, entertainment, and culture — is central to this vision.

Beginning in late 2020, Xi launched a regulatory onslaught intended to "reduce economic inequality" and rein in what the government sees as the excesses of capitalism. The crackdown, at its peak, wiped off $3 trillion in market value for Chinese companies worldwide.

"One thing that the Chinese government has demonstrated numerous times over the last several years is that nobody is too important economically, culturally, politically, etc. to be censored, fined, banned, or in the worst case, completely disappeared," said Cara Wallis, an associate professor at Texas A&M University who studies China's media industry and online culture.