A blurred screenshot of a three-year-old girl who was reportedly fed to a body weight of 35 kilograms. Photo: Screenshot from CCTV.com's Weibo video.

China's state broadcaster on Sunday revealed cases where minors were exploited to attract attention on social media platforms, taking the topic to hot search on Sina Weibo and prompting online discussions about "minor influencer accounts," with most netizens voicing support for stronger protection of minors.

CCTV.com said in a Weibo post on Sunday that with the growing popularity of short-form video platforms, an increasing number of minors have been pushed to online platforms and became "children influencers." 

The posted contents include asking minors to devour worms, snails and weeds; staged videos of siblings fighting or turning against each other in order to fabricate family conflicts; posing child models as romantic couples for promotional and livestream sales purposes; inducing minors to say words inappropriate for their ages.

One case that caught specific attention was the account featuring three-year-old Peiqi, who was fed by her parents to 70 jin, or 35 kilograms, roughly double the normal weight of a girl in her age.  

Videos posted by this account usually contain exaggerated captions and descriptions. Examples include "70 jin chubby girl needs tailored big-size clothes" "70 jin chubby girl ate only six meat buns today and still not enough to fill the gaps between teeth," and "70 jin chubby girl drinks a bottled beverage, finishes half a chicken and a bowl of vermicelli," all designed to generate traffic. 

CCTV's viral post also drew discussion among netizens and social media users. Some said that legal guardians should be held accountable for the exploitation of minors on social media platforms. Others proposed stricter content verification when minors are involved. Some netizens also pointed out that social media platforms should be held responsible as well and reflect on what kinds of content are appropriate.

According to Xinhua News Agency in January, eight official departments, including the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, jointly issued a set of measures on the classification of online information that may affect the physical and mental health of minors. The measures clearly define the types of online content that may have such impacts, as well as their specific forms of expression.

The measures took effect on March 1 and define online information that may affect the physical and mental health of minors from four dimensions, including content that may encourage or induce harmful imitation behavior, content that may negatively influence minors' values, improper use of minors' images, and inappropriate disclosure or use of their personal information.

According to Xinhua, content such as sexual innuendo or suggestive material that may trigger sexual associations, as well as content promoting unhealthy lifestyles among minors such as binge eating, all fall under the category of information that may encourage or induce harmful imitation behavior.

Regarding what guardians should be cautious about when filming their own children, Liu Xiaochun, director of the Internet Law Research Center at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that it is important to resist excessive commercialization and adultification, and to avoid packaging children as tools for chasing online traffic, according to a video from CCTV.com attached to the post. 

Liu said there is a difference between genuinely sharing children's lives in a sincere way and using them primarily to gain attention. While it can be positive for children to be popular on social media, once they gain significant traffic and attention, negative effects also emerge. Parents, he said, need to anticipate and consider the potential consequences.  

Global Times