This is the bizarre moment a Chinese influencer with 8 million followers apparently uses his engagement bash as a cover for a five-hour sales event, leading to him being banned from the social network.

Chinese video-sharing app Kuaishou has reportedly banned influencer Yin Shihang after a livestream of his engagement became a sales event on Saturday night.

Kuaishou said on Monday that the influencer had been banned for holding a “hype-driven sales” event under the pretext of an engagement bash that they called a “vulgar performance”, adding that it drew over 230,000 complaints.

Shihang posted an apparently staged video of him popping the question to his girlfriend Tao Lulu a day before the controversial sales event, according to the news site Sixth Tone.

He said: “Tomorrow night at 9pm, I will promptly turn on my livestream and get engaged to Tao Lulu. Lulu, will you accept my proposal?”

She answered: “Let’s see tomorrow.”

However, the engagement bash soon became a marathon event involving the sale of mobile phones, perfumes, and clothing items.

The event became one of Kuaishou’s top trending livestreams and Shihang reportedly sold CNY 46.1 million (GBP 5 million) in goods.

On Monday, Kuaishou said in a statement that they launched a campaign to halt such events in November 2020, calling them “vulgar hype to drive livestream sales”.

The campaign specifically bans the uses of weddings and divorces to boost sales on Kuaishou.

Meanwhile, the platform’s biggest rival Douyin, also known as TikTok, announced a similar campaign earlier this year.