As China grapples with face mask shortages as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, some places are live streaming medical mask production -- and people are tuning in. The latest company to join is state-owned oil and gas giant Sinopec, which live-streamed the production of fabric used for face masks for a full 48 hours over the weekend.
The live stream took place at the subsidiary company Yanshan Petrochemical Company, with state media reporting that the broadcast reached 260,000 views by Saturday night. This is a lot less than the viral live stream of the construction of two temporary hospitals in Wuhan, the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak. That one racked up 18 million concurrent views in a single day.
State media outlets like Xinhua have previously live streamed reports from face mask production floors, albeit not for 48 hours straight. They have also sought to push out more positive news about the Chinese government’s efforts to contain the virus on social media and popular video apps like Douyin, the local version of TikTok. The effort comes after a huge online backlash over the government’s handling of the epidemic and efforts to censor critical voices on social media.