By John Liu, CNN
Hong Kong (CNN) — One of China’s most popular short-video and streaming platforms was flooded with porn and violent content earlier this week, sparking outrage and bafflement in a nation where the internet is tightly controlled.
Kuaishou, a major rival of TikTok’s Chinese version Douyin, suffered a cyberattack around 10 p.m. on Monday that unleashed thousands of vulgar and violent videos on its livestreaming service for about 90 minutes, shocking hundreds of millions of users across China.
“What happened to Kauishou? The moment I scroll into a livestream, it’s nothing but porn,” one user said on popular Chinese social media Weibo.
“Kuaishou has gone mad. My eyes are going to go blind,” another user said.
In a Tuesday statement, the Beijing-based company blamed the attacks on “underground and gray industries,” which in China refers to ecosystems of illegal or quasi-legal operations that exploit the internet for illicit profit.
Kuaishou said it had reported the incident to the police and that its app has gradually resumed normal operations.
China maintains one of the world’s most extensive and effective internet censorship systems, tightly controlling what users can see and quickly scrubbing content. Pornography remains illegal in China.
Despite stringent internet controls like real-name verification and the Great Firewall that blocks access to many foreign websites, cyberattacks are not uncommon in China.
The country’s internet regulator rolled out new rules in September mandating online platforms’ prompt and detailed reporting of security breaches to the authorities.
“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,” the Cyberspace Administration of China said in a statement explaining the need for new regulations.
As of now, no actor has claimed responsibility for the Kuaishou cyberattack.
State-run media China Daily reported on Wednesday that the attack was powered by artificial intelligence, saying the perpetrator bypassed security systems, compromised user data, and deployed 17,000 bot accounts to stream pornographic and violent content, paralyzing the platform’s livestreaming service, citing a Chinese cybersecurity firm QAX.
CNN has reached out to Kuaishou for further comment.
Kuaishou is China’s second largest short-video social media with more than 416 million of daily active users, trailing only behind Douyin, according to data in its third quarter report.
The cyberattack sent the company’s Hong Kong-listed shares down as much as 6% on Tuesday.
Wang Liejun, a cybersecurity expert at QAX, attributed the scale of the damage largely to the use of “automated attacks,” noting that many online platforms still rely on traditional, manual defense models.
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 review systems can handle, Wang told state-run media The Paper.
“Obscene content”
The incident comes amid a controversial law amendment that has sparked heated online debate over tighter restrictions and higher fines for spreading obscene content on the internet.
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