Photo: IC

Kuaishou, one of China's popular short-video platforms, reported the issue to police after explicit content appeared in its livestream channels on Monday night, saying the platform was targeted by illegal and malicious groups. A cybersecurity expert said the disruption reflected a shift toward automated attacks overwhelming traditional manual defenses and should ring an alarm for the industry. 

At around 10 pm on Monday, Kuaishou was hit by a large-scale attack from illegal "black-gray" industry operations, which refer to illegal and malicious actors, with hackers breaching the system over a 60- to 90-minute period and flooding the platform with livestreams containing prohibited content, according to information released to the Global Times on Tuesday by Chinese cybersecurity company QI-ANXIN Technology Group Inc (QAX). 

Many netizens also reported that a large amount of explicit content appeared on Kuaishou livestream platforms on Monday night, including the playback of obscene videos or borderline vulgar performances by streamers, Capital News reported on Tuesday.  

As of 1:40am on Tuesday, many of the livestream channels involved had been shut down and banned, Hongxing News reported.

According to Capital News, Kuaishou said that around 10 pm on Monday the platform was hit by an attack from the "black-gray" industry, referring to illegal and malicious actors. The situation has since been handled and is under emergency remediation. 

The platform told Global Times on Tuesday that it firmly opposes illegal content, has reported the matter to relevant authorities, and has notified the police.

A security expert from Chinese cybersecurity company QI-ANXIN Technology Group Inc (QAX), told the Global Times on Tuesday that the large-scale disruption was primarily because illegal "black-gray" industry operations have fully entered an era of "automated attacks," while platforms still largely rely on traditional manual defense models. Hackers used automated tools to batch-register and control bot accounts, enabling the near-instant release and spread of illicit content at a scale far beyond the limits of manual review, which is inherently delayed and struggles to keep pace with high-frequency violations.

The expert added that such attacks reflect an asymmetric confrontation between "automated offense" and "manual defense," rendering traditional protection systems ineffective under this kind of attack. At the same time, the expert warned that cybersecurity upgrades should not focus solely on external threats, noting that risks stemming from internal vulnerabilities — including insider data leaks, account misuse and abuse of privileges — must also be addressed, calling on companies to adopt an "internal and external defense" approach with stronger controls over internal access and permissions.


Global Times