THE market supervision administration of Hefei, the capital of East China’s Anhui Province, announced Tuesday that it had initiated an investigation into Three Sheep Network, a company based in the city owned by Chinese influencer Zhang Qingyang.

According to the Hefei market supervision administration, an investigation is currently underway into Three Sheep Network for allegedly “misleading consumers” during its livestreams on Douyin, the Chinese verion of TikTok.

Following the official notice of the probe, the livestreamers of the company suspended their operations for a day but resumed livestreams yesterday. Despite attracting a large online audience, some livestreamers faced severe criticism or even insults during their broadcasts. The controversy began to unfold after Three Sheep Network wrongly advertised mooncakes under the “Meisun” brand as a renowned Hong Kong product. Multiple consumers pointed out that the brand is actually produced in Guangzhou and Foshan in South China’s Guangdong Province and is not available in major supermarkets or popular online outlets in Hong Kong.

Veteran Hong Kong actor Eric Tsang became embroiled in the scandal for promoting the product alongside Zhang in a livestream earlier this month. Tsang had praised the mooncakes as a suitable gift and did not challenge Zhang when he claimed that “the mooncake gift set retails for 700 bucks at physical stores in Hong Kong, as he can verify.”

As of press time, the products from Guangzhou Meicheng Food Co., the company behind the cakes, were no longer available for purchase at its Douyin store or Tmall store.

While the Guangzhou-based Meicheng did register a company and the Meisun brand in Hong Kong, and its factories possess the necessary licenses for pastry manufacturing, it is not a well-known brand as purported during the livestream. The name also bears a resemblance to the brand MX mooncakes, whose Cantonese pronunciation is “mei sun,” leading to potential confusion.(SD News)