Why was Brother Snake sued by Douyu?

Title: Why was Brother Snake sued by Douyu? ——In-depth analysis of the anchor breach of contract crisis

Recently, Douyu Live Platform sued the well-known anchor "Snake Brother" Cao Hai for breach of contract, which attracted widespread attention. As a former top anchor, Snake's breach of contract not only involved high compensation, but also reflected the interest game between anchors and platforms in the live broadcast industry. This article will combine hot topics across the Internet in the past 10 days and present the full picture of the event using structured data.

1. Overview of the background of the event

Brother Snake (Cao Hai) was originally the top anchor of Douyu’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds section. In 2018, he unilaterally switched jobs to Huya Live. Douyu filed a lawsuit on the grounds of breach of contract. In September 2023, the court finally ruled that Brother She should compensate Douyu for liquidated damages of 85.22 million yuan. However, during the execution process, it was found that its assets were insufficient, causing Brother She to be included in the list of dishonest people.

2. Analysis of core dispute points

1.Contract validity issues: Brother Snake claimed that he was coerced by the platform when signing the contract, but the court determined that he should bear legal responsibility as a person with full capacity for civil conduct.

2.Liquidated damages calculation standard: The evidence provided by Douyu shows that Brother She’s job-hopping resulted in direct losses such as the loss of platform users and a drop in advertising revenue.

3.Industry impact: This case has become a typical case of "sky-high liquidated damages" in the live broadcast industry, and related topics have been read more than 230 million times in the past 10 days.

3. Comparison of industry data

Similar breach of contract cases in the live broadcast industry in the past three years show that the average compensation amount for leading anchors who change jobs is on the rise:

4. Latest developments of the incident

1. Brother Snake posted a video response on Douyin, saying that he was negotiating a repayment plan, but this was not officially confirmed by Douyu.

2. Douyu’s Legal Department issued a statement on October 8th emphasizing that it would “resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the platform.” The related topic #DouyuToughAttitude# became a hot search topic.

3. Industry experts pointed out that this case may accelerate the issuance of the "Model Text of Contracts for the Online Live Broadcasting Industry". Currently, 87 associations have jointly launched self-discipline initiatives.

5. Deep thinking

The Snake incident exposed the problem of brutal growth in the rapid expansion period of the live broadcast industry. On the one hand, the platform requires huge investments to train anchors, and on the other hand, top anchors have extremely strong ability to monetize their traffic. How to establish a more reasonable benefit distribution mechanism will become the key to the sustainable development of the industry. It is worth noting that in the past six months, six platforms have begun piloting "flexible liquidated damages clauses", which may provide new solutions to industry conflicts.

(Full text, about 850 words in total)