China's popular short-video and livestreaming platform Kuaishou was inundated with pornographic and violent content earlier this week, sparking public outrage and confusion in a country known for tight internet controls.
The Beijing-based company, a major rival of Douyin—the Chinese version of TikTok—reported that the cyberattack occurred around 10 p.m. on Monday, overwhelming its livestreaming service for roughly 90 minutes and affecting hundreds of millions of users nationwide.
"What happened to Kuaishou? The moment I scroll into a livestream, it's nothing but porn," one user wrote on Weibo, China's leading social media platform. Another commented, "Kuaishou has gone mad. My eyes are going to go blind."
In a statement released on Tuesday, Kuaishou blamed the attacks on "underground and gray industries," a term in China referring to illegal or quasi-legal networks that exploit the internet for profit. The company confirmed it had reported the incident to local police and that its app was gradually returning to normal operations.
China enforces one of the world's strictest internet censorship regimes, including real-name verification systems and the Great Firewall, which blocks access to many foreign websites. Pornography is illegal, and prohibited content is typically removed quickly. Despite these controls, cyberattacks remain a growing problem.
In September, China's internet regulator introduced new rules requiring platforms to promptly report any security breaches with detailed information. According to the Cyberspace Administration of China, "The scale and frequency of cyberattacks continue to rise. The volume of malware is steadily increasing, with an average of more than 3.49 million transmission attempts per day."
As of now, no individual or group has claimed responsibility for the Kuaishou attack.
State-run media China Daily reported on Wednesday that the attack was powered by artificial intelligence, citing Chinese cybersecurity firm QAX. The perpetrator allegedly bypassed security systems, compromised user data, and deployed 17,000 bot accounts to stream prohibited content, temporarily paralyzing Kuaishou's livestreaming service.
Kuaishou is China's second-largest short-video platform, with over 416 million daily active users, trailing only Douyin. The cyberattack caused the company's Hong Kong-listed shares to drop as much as 6% on Tuesday.
Wang Liejun, a cybersecurity expert at QAX, said the scale of the attack was largely due to the use of automated methods, noting that many platforms still rely on manual review systems. "Hackers use automated tools to register accounts in bulk and control bot networks, allowing prohibited content to be released and spread within seconds—far beyond the limits of what manual systems can handle," he told the state-run media The Paper.
The incident comes amid controversy over an amendment to China's law on obscene content, which has triggered heated online debate. The new rules, set to take effect next year, are expected to impose stricter restrictions and higher fines for distributing obscene content online. Some local media reported that even sharing such material in private chats could be criminalized, including among friends or spouses, leading to widespread public backlash.
There is no evidence linking the Kuaishou attack to the new law. On Wednesday, state broadcaster CCTV clarified that claims suggesting that sending obscene content to friends would constitute a crime were a misinterpretation of the legislation. Legal experts, including Yue Shenshan of Beijing Yuecheng Law Firm, noted that while such behavior has technically been illegal under existing laws, it is rarely punished unless reported.
Prominent nationalist commentator Hu Xijin also voiced opposition to penalizing private exchanges of sexual content, writing on Weibo that treating all sexual material, including suggestive or ambiguous content, as entirely criminal at the grassroots level was "not correct."
