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Iris Deng

China’s internet watchdog has fined Kuaishou Technology 119.1 million yuan (US$17 million) for hosting explicit live-streaming content, just days after the operator of the country’s second-largest short-video platform was penalised over e-commerce violations.
Beijing’s Cyberspace Administration launched an investigation following reports of a surge in pornographic and vulgar streams.
The probe found the platform had failed to meet its cybersecurity obligations, fix system vulnerabilities in time, and stop the spread of illegal content, the regulator said on Friday.
Authorities described the breaches as “severe” and said they had caused a significant negative social impact.
Alongside the fine, regulators issued a warning, ordered Kuaishou to complete rectifications by a set deadline and required the company to hold responsible staff accountable.
Kuaishou said it would “accept [the decision] sincerely and rectify resolutely” in an apology issued after the penalty.
The punishment follows a major cyberattack in December, when Kuaishou’s live-streaming platform was flooded by explicit content in high-traffic rooms for more than an hour.
On December 22, recommended feeds were inundated with such material from about 10pm, before the company began mass deletions and shut live-streaming channels around 11.30pm.
The company reported the incident to police at the time, blaming “black and grey industries” – an underground ecosystem of illegal and legally ambiguous activities – for the attack.
In Friday’s statement, Kuaishou called the episode “an extremely bitter lesson” and apologised for delays in its emergency response, which it attributed to technical management shortcomings.
It added that it had since conducted a comprehensive review of risks and its security infrastructure.
Kuaishou’s average daily active users (DAUs) reached 416 million in the third quarter, making it China’s second-largest short-video platform after ByteDance’s Douyin, which has more than 600 million DAUs.
The latest penalty came days after the State Administration for Market Regulation fined Kuaishou 26 million yuan over multiple violations in its live-streaming e-commerce business, including failures in information disclosure, unreasonable fees charged to merchants and inadequate consumer protection.


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The fine comes days after a separate e-commerce penalty, adding pressure on China’s No 2 short-video platform to tighten controls


The fine comes days after a separate e-commerce penalty, adding pressure on China’s No 2 short-video platform to tighten controls.


Watchdog slaps China’s Kuaishou with US$17 million fine after explicit content probe

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The fine comes days after a separate e-commerce penalty, adding pressure on China’s No 2 short-video platform to tighten controls

The fine comes days after a separate e-commerce penalty, adding pressure on China’s No 2 short-video platform to tighten controls