Kuaishou, one of China’s largest short-video apps and a key rival to Douyin, has come under intense scrutiny after a cyberattack flooded its livestreaming service with explicit and violent content.
Users began reporting disturbing videos at around 10 pm on Monday. The shocking material continued to appear for at least 90 minutes, leaving millions of users alarmed and angry. The platform later restored normal operations.
Kuaishou, which is based in Beijing, said it had reported the incident to the police. The company blamed the disruption on what it described as “underground and grey industries,” a term commonly used in China for illegal online networks.
Unusual cyberattack on Kuaishou, one of China's largest short-video platforms with over 400 million daily users (comparable to TikTok). Overwhelmed the service. The attack exploited vulnerabilities in livestream API interfaces, bypassing both real-name authentication and content… pic.twitter.com/LgD6OIg0r2
— Lukasz Olejnik (@lukOlejnik) December 23, 2025Public reaction was swift. On Weibo, hundreds of users voiced outrage. One wrote that the platform had “gone mad,” while another said the livestreams showed “nothing but pornographic content.”
China enforces some of the world’s strictest internet regulations. Pornography is illegal, and platforms face heavy penalties if they fail to control harmful material. The scale of the breach has therefore raised serious concerns about platform security and content moderation.
No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. Authorities continue to investigate how the content bypassed safeguards.
Meanwhile, the Cyberspace Administration of China has renewed calls for tighter controls. The regulator said China now faces nearly 3.49 million attempted cyber intrusions every day and warned that the growing scale and frequency of attacks require stronger regulations.
The incident has intensified pressure on Chinese tech platforms to strengthen security systems and prevent similar disruptions in the future.
