China Punishes Accounts Over Improper Short Video Labeling

Chinese authorities have taken severe enforcement action against accounts and platforms that failed to properly label short video content, as part of an ongoing campaign to bring transparency to the country’s sprawling digital content ecosystem. The Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission (CAC) announced on July 10 that it had punished a batch of accounts for publishing fictional or dramatized content without the required labels, according to Xinhua News.

Background: The Push for Content Labeling

The crackdown is the latest phase of a regulatory drive that began in early 2026. In January, the CAC began guiding 12 major platforms — including Douyin (TikTok China), Kuaishou, Tencent, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, and Weibo — to pilot content labeling optimization. By March, the regulator announced plans to comprehensively standardize short video content labeling across all platforms nationwide.

In May, the CAC detailed six mandatory labels that all platforms must implement: “Contains Fictional/Dramatized Content,” “Contains AI-Generated Content,” “Contains Marketing Information,” “Reposted Content,” “Personal Opinion,” and “No Label Needed” — the last of which is reserved for genuine life recordings and is not displayed on the video itself.

Categories of Violations

The CAC identified four main types of improper content among the punished accounts:

Exploitation of sympathy. Accounts staged scenarios involving disabled persons or seriously ill children — such as a “disabled wife pregnant again” or “sick child fundraising” — without labeling them as fictional. Accounts including “爱I满人间” and “陪宁宝打怪中” were closed.

Fabricated hardship. Accounts posed as delivery drivers, staging scenarios like “single father delivering food with child” or “delivery driver accidentally scratches luxury car” to evoke sympathy. Accounts such as “贵州小洪6868,” “洞房名猪,” and “香港浩南正能量生活记录” were banned or restricted.

Fabricated family and relationship conflicts. Accounts staged arguments between in-laws, bride price disputes, and love triangles to stoke social anxiety. Accounts including “丁丁婆婆,” “如意（婆媳日常）,” and “惠子不服气” faced sanctions.

Fake good deeds. Accounts fabricated stories of heroic rescues — such as a “Bentley owner rescues abandoned wedding couple on highway” — to gain public trust through false positivity. Accounts including “八宝粥,” “桐桐要坚强,” and “杨丽2328” were punished.

Scale of Enforcement

The enforcement effort has been substantial. Since the labeling campaign was deployed in May, major platforms have cumulatively cleaned up more than 241,000 short videos violating labeling regulations, sanctioned over 21,000 accounts, and corrected or supplemented labels for more than 1.275 million videos with incorrect or missing labels, according to the CAC.

Smaller platforms that failed to implement the labeling requirements were referred to local cyberspace authorities for “interview and punishment” — a regulatory process in which officials meet with platform representatives to demand compliance.

Why This Matters

The crackdown reflects growing concerns about the blurring line between reality and fiction in short video content. The CAC has stated that unlabeled fictional content “seriously misleads public cognition” and “disrupts social order.” The inclusion of AI-generated content as a mandatory label category also signals Beijing’s awareness of the risks posed by deepfakes and synthetic media.

Many of the punished accounts were using fake emotional stories — disability, poverty, family conflict — to generate sympathy, engagement, and ultimately revenue, a practice known colloquially as “traffic farming.” The CAC’s action targets both the creators of such content and the platforms that host it.

What’s Next

The CAC has stated it will continue to promote standardized short video content labeling, with ongoing severe punishment and public exposure of platforms and accounts that fail to comply. The regulator has indicated that the cleanup effort will continue through the end of 2026, with a particular focus on ensuring that labels are not just applied, but applied accurately.

China’s approach — mandatory content labels enforced through platform accountability — represents one of the most comprehensive content transparency regimes globally and could serve as a template for other countries grappling with the challenges of AI-generated content and digital misinformation.