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China urges video platforms to censor “bullet chat”

Comments that fly across the video you’re watching are popular in China

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Sometimes people end up enjoying the chat more so than the video. (Picture: Bilibili)
This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Chat moderation has always been issue an for online streaming. It shouldn’t surprise you that it’s also an issue in China, where internet censorship is everywhere. And now it might come to the country’s unique video comment system: Bullet chat.

A new article by China’s communist mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, is urging video platforms to moderate bullet chat, the most popular form of video commentary in the country.

What is it? Imagine the live comments you see on Facebook Live or Twitch -- but instead of being in a little window at the side, the comments are displayed directly on the video itself. They’re pegged to specific moments, and float directly above the footage.

Sometimes people end up enjoying the chat more so than the video. (Picture: Bilibili)
Sometimes people end up enjoying the chat more so than the video. (Picture: Bilibili)

Bullet chat is hugely popular in China. Video site Bilibili, where millions of people watch video with bullet chat every day, became became a Nasdaq-listed company in less than 9 years.

Bilibili, China’s biggest anime site, covers the screen in user comments

In the recent article, the People’s Daily doubled down on its request for video platforms to better moderate chat. “It is beneficial to create better quality bullet chat if platforms review comments first before airing them,” says the story, which also re-stresses that video platforms should manage bullet chat in real time.

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