Concept image for short videos Photo：VCG

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), China's top internet regulator, has rolled out nationwide labeling rules for short videos, a landmark move to clean up content chaos, improve user experience and foster the healthy development of the booming industry.

The CAC launched a pilot program in March covering 12 major platforms: Douyin, Kuaishou, Tencent, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, Weibo, Taobao, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Alipay, Meituan and Baidu. After summarizing trial experiences, the CAC recently ordered all regional internet authorities and online platforms to fully implement three key requirements, the CAC said on its official WeChat account on Tuesday.

Platforms must provide six mandatory labels for users: "Contains fictional content", "Contains AI-generated content", "Contains marketing information", "Reposted content", "Personal opinion" and "No labeling needed". The last label, designed for real-life footage, will not be displayed on video pages. Platforms can also offer optional labels based on their specific needs.

Content labeling has become a compulsory step before publication, and creators must select one mandatory label to post videos.

Platforms are required to strengthen reviews of new videos and conduct phased retrospective checks on existing content. Unlabeled or mislabeled videos will be corrected, and violators will receive educational warnings, aiming to achieve full and accurate labeling across the industry.

In recent years, China's short-video industry has developed rapidly with diverse content. However, the increasing presence of fictional content, marketing, material generated by artificial intelligence (AI), personal opinions and reposted videos has made authenticity hard to verify. Unregulated labeling also hinders industry development and user experience, making unified standards necessary, the CAC said.

The policy tackles widespread issues such as misleading content and inconsistent labeling standards across platforms. It is a milestone, signaling the industry's transition from unregulated growth to more refined governance, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

"The rules have placed the responsibility on creators and platforms to clearly label the nature of their content, which will help users better identify information, and rebuild trust by preventing real content from being drowned out by fakes and ads," Wang said.

In the long run, clear labeling serves as a fundamental rule for content governance in the generative AI era, acting as an identity tag for content to support future copyright protection, false information tracing and adaptation to communication rules, propelling the short-video industry toward a healthier long-term development path, Wang added.

Since January, the CAC has guided online platforms to thoroughly clean up more than 520,000 illegal short videos such as fake staged content, severely punished more than 68,000 illegal accounts, and issued 54 rectification announcements.