The Cyberspace Administration of China has recently made a comprehensive deployment to standardize the labeling of short video content, clearly requiring website platforms to provide users with six mandatory tags, including "content generated by AI," marking a new phase of "mandatory transparency" in short video governance.
In response to issues such as unclear content sources and difficulty distinguishing truth from falsehood, regulators, building on previous guidance for 12 major platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, Tencent, and Baidu to pilot the initiative, have officially set content labeling as an essential step in the short video publishing process. Publishers must select one of the following options: "content with fictional dramatization," "content generated by AI," "content with marketing information," "content is a reprint," "content represents personal opinions," or "no label required," otherwise they cannot complete the publishing process.
This new policy not only strengthens the review of newly added content but also requires platforms to retrospectively label existing short videos in batches, ensuring that all content is properly labeled. Since January of this year, more than 520,000 illegally fabricated videos and 68,000 violating accounts have been severely investigated. With the explosive popularity of generative AI technology, the boundaries of video content authenticity are increasingly blurred. Regulatory intervention aims to reshape a healthy, orderly, and trustworthy content ecosystem.
By moving the labeling obligation forward, the industry has not only improved the efficiency of combating false information but also established clear boundaries for the dissemination of AI-generated content. This move indicates that in the future, short video platforms will bear greater responsibility, ensuring netizens' right to be informed through a combination of technical reviews and manual inspections, and promoting the short video industry's return to content compliance from a focus on traffic competition.
