Beijing blasts Tencent, Alibaba and other tech firms for allowing distribution of ‘soft child porn’ emoji sticker packs
- The Cyberspace Administration of China lectures tech companies for allowing ‘soft child porn’ stickers to be circulated
- Latest action forms part of broader campaign by authorities to protect minors online as number of underage internet users continue to increase
Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding are among several tech companies on the receiving end of a lecture by the increasingly powerful Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) for allowing “soft child porn” emoji stickers to spread on their platforms and using “sexually suggestive underage” short videos to lure clicks.
Popular internet platforms, including Tencent’s messaging app QQ, e-commerce platform Taobao run by Alibaba, short video app Kuaishou, social media platform Weibo and social e-commercial app Xiaohongshu, were recently asked to correct the problems, purge relevant user accounts, and were fined an undisclosed amount, the CAC said in a statement on Wednesday.
Tencent, Alibaba, Kuaishou, Weibo and Xiaohongshu did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
CAC also said that it is launching another targeted crackdown to purge the internet in China of content deemed harmful to underage internet users.
This broadens a campaign by CAC to clean up the country’s internet – in September last year it blasted online tutoring platforms, which it said hosted vulgar content that had a negative impact on underage users.
The new crackdown aims to tackle several issues, including pornographic and violent content on online education platforms, people flaunting excessive wealth on live streaming and short video platforms, and online fan groups that induce minors to contribute money to their idols.
Prior to CAC’s campaign, China’s state-run media outlets had published articles blasting “soft child porn stickers” on online platforms.