A concept picture of AI city File photo: VCG

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has launched a 4-month special campaign aimed at creating a clean and healthy online environment for minors and strengthening cyberspace protection for the group, according to a notice posted on CAC's WeChat account on Monday. 

The notice specifically highlighted issues related to toxic artificial intelligence (AI)-generated animation and short video clips targeting minors, vowing to step up efforts to crack down on the hyping of child internet celebrities.

Launching the special campaign is an important measure to protect the legitimate rights and interests of minors and to safeguard their healthy growth, CAC officials said.

In terms of online content creation and publishing, misconduct includes using AI to fabricate toxic animations that maliciously parody classic cartoon characters or deliberately amplify violent or horrific elements. The notice also highlighted content that encourages dangerous actions such as choking others. 

According to the notice, some accounts have sensationalized controversial child personas, including "reincarnated prodigies" and "precocious little beauties," while staging videos that depict truancy, chronic absenteeism, and "lying flat" mentalities that promote negative values.

Other problems include mass-producing bizarre, grotesque, or sensational AI-generated video clips that poison minors' minds. Some AI applications create inappropriate characters or generate ambiguous or vulgar content that should be rectified. 

Ding Daoshi, a veteran analyst in the AI and internet sector, told the Global Times on Monday that it is necessary to address the new challenges posed by AI technology through special campaigns. AI has significantly lowered the threshold for altering audiovisual content aimed at minors, such as animation - anyone can add gory, frightening, or vulgar scenes within minutes and distribute them in bulk through short video platforms and social networks at very low cost. Because of this, the issue of harmful animated content requires even greater attention.

"AI algorithms can also continuously recommend similar harmful content based on some children's viewing habits," Ding noted. "Since minors are not fully mature, repeated exposure can dull their vigilance toward violent or disturbing content, and may even lead them to imitate what they see."

This special campaign has drawn clear boundaries, directly identifying AI parodies of classic animations, intentional amplification of violence and horror, and the creation of harmful AI-generated short dramas as key areas for crackdown. 

Ding noted that this will force short video platforms and content creators to rein in such practices, and prompt platforms to improve their content review standards for AI-generated material.

According to the notice, several platforms and online groups have also been found engaging in problematic behavior. Some individuals use pretexts such as "looking for a bestie" to lure minors into sending their private photos. Certain online groups, under the guise of "anime welfare," deliberately target minors with pornographic comics and other illegal content. Sexually suggestive emojis and vulgar internet slang frequently appear under videos featuring minors, constituting harassment. 

The special campaign is divided into two steps. While the first step focuses on the entire process and full chain of content production and dissemination during the summer vacation period, the second step will include thorough investigations into various chaotic phenomena and prominent risks that may affect the physical and mental health of minors.

According to the notice, in the second stage, China's cyberspace regulator will focus on standardizing platforms' recommendation systems. 

The regulator will continue to investigate and address issues related to platforms recommending harmful content, negative value orientations, inappropriate use of minors' images, and violations of minors' privacy. Platforms are asked to reasonably limit the duration and frequency of content featuring minors on accounts, and prohibit minors from appearing frequently on screen for profit. Multi-channel network agencies must not exploit their accounts to promote child internet celebrities.

Xiong Bingqi, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said that for these regulatory measures to be truly effective, there must be tougher penalties for platforms that violate the rules to raise the cost of illegal activities. Ultimately, this can help foster a self-regulatory mechanism that protects the physical and mental health of minors.

Beyond the platforms themselves, all sectors should work together to create a healthy online environment for minors. Xiong told the Global Times that schools, families, and society as a whole must keep pace, especially during summer vacation. Guardians in family education must guide and monitor minors' use of AI tools and their consumption of social media content, helping them recognize harmful online information and AI-generated misinformation, rather than relying solely on the "minor mode" offered by platforms.