On the night of December 22nd, around 10 p.m., the content review mechanism of the Chinese major short video platform “Kuaishou” malfunctioned, leading to a large number of pornographic content flooding the live streaming rooms. Around midnight on the 23rd, the platform urgently took down the live streaming function, and at 12:45 a.m., the live channels returned to normal. Kuaishou stated that they were under attack by black hat industries and had reported to the police. The public questioned the platform’s review mechanism for having loopholes and security risks.
According to reports from mainland media, on the evening of December 22nd, many netizens exposed on social platforms that Kuaishou’s live streaming rooms had a large amount of pornographic content, including playing explicit videos and borderline vulgar performances by hosts. Some live rooms had over 100,000 viewers, prompting a significant number of reports from netizens.
Witnesses said that these unauthorized live rooms were not sporadic but showed distinctive “automated” characteristics: a large number of newly registered “white” or “zombie” accounts collectively started broadcasting during the same period, playing pre-produced illegal videos. Even though the platform continuously banned individual accounts, the related content continued to grow massively, indicating that the review system seemed to be malfunctioning.
A Kuaishou user from Fujian told a reporter that on the evening of the 22nd, around 10 p.m., while watching a female fashion blogger’s live stream, scrolling down led to entering a significantly explicit pornographic live room. The live room had a large number of online users in real-time, and the account’s fans rapidly increased. They encountered similar streams in the following three or four attempts, and “immediately backed out in shock.”
Another user from Sichuan also mentioned that their Kuaishou live homepage couldn’t display other content for a period on the previous night. Starting around 10 p.m., they continuously reported the adult content and kept complaining until after 11 p.m.
According to reports, most of these adult live streams from their complaint records had no titles and originated from new accounts. Some normal accounts that had posted few videos also participated, with one account even showing a distance of 500 meters.
Around midnight on the 23rd, Kuaishou took emergency measures of “indiscriminate shutdown.” At around 12:30 a.m., a test by a mainland media reporter found that the Kuaishou live channel was entirely shut down, with the page displaying “No content found” or “Server busy.” Apart from the live function being halted, Kuaishou’s short video browsing, personal center, and withdrawal functions also experienced temporary fluctuations. It wasn’t until 12:45 a.m. that the live channel returned to normal.
On the morning of the 23rd, Kuaishou responded that around 10 p.m. on the 22nd, the platform was attacked by the black hat industries. They were currently dealing with emergency repairs, had reported the situation to the relevant department, and had reported to the police.
According to the “Southern Web” report, its reporter learned from the internet security industry that within a short period of 60 to 90 minutes, hacker groups infiltrated the Kuaishou system through technical means, leading to the entire platform’s security system paralysis. Attackers used around 17,000 zombie accounts to open live rooms, playing a large number of illegal content including, pornographic, violent, and terrifying material. More worrisome, these live streams had hidden virus links. Many users who clicked in had their WeChat accounts stolen.
Kuaishou is one of China’s major short video platforms with a massive user base, focusing on live streaming and short videos as core functions. The incident immediately went viral on the internet, raising questions about the platform’s content review mechanism and real-time control capabilities.
Weibo influencer “Chengxiaozhi” questioned, “Isn’t this perhaps the biggest accident in the history of the Chinese Internet? Last night, Kuaishou’s live rooms were filled with a large amount of adult content! Kuaishou responded saying it was attacked by the black hat industries and has been fixed. How could such a large platform like Kuaishou be breached so easily? It usually flirts with vulgarity, and a mishap was bound to happen sooner or later…”
Weibo influencer “Pandian Technology” said, “This is a major accident, after all, even if Kuaishou hasn’t declined, it is still a platform that the whole nation watches. The platform may be a victim, but it inevitably needs to be held accountable!!
“If according to rumors online, the servers began to be attacked around 11:12, lasting for about an hour, this shows how fragile Kuaishou’s internet firewall is.
“Even some netizens captured screenshots showing that within an hour, Kuaishou’s software user return volume reached 4.04 million, during this period a large amount of adult content was freely played in the live stream rooms, causing immeasurable negative impacts and the accounts that captured IDs that night are still normal, just with emptied content!!
“This indicates firstly that the platform’s supervision is inadequate, and secondly, there are many illegal, vulgar accounts and users on the platform. Next, Kuaishou will undoubtedly strengthen the defense of their servers, hoping to take on the responsibilities of being a large video platform faster, to not poison the youth!”
The article author and Weibo influencer “Bao Kan Digital” said, “I don’t sympathize with Kuaishou’s experience, as well as the other one, I really dislike these short video platforms… Regardless of the kind of strange stuff being exalted as the king of traffic, the alternative and distorted values leave people dumbfounded, and the crucial platforms turn a blind eye. My opinion on such platforms has never changed: the sooner they die, the sooner the better!”