BEIJING, December 20 (TMTPOST) — The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China has recently released the Guidelines on Enhancing Protection of Minors in the Online Cultural Market, which prohibits exploiting children for online content for profit.

There has been a recent trend in China of featuring children in online content on short video platforms and livestreaming shows. Many Chinese parents are trying to turn their children into Internet influencers and profit off them through advertisements.

Image Source: Visual China

It is not uncommon for users to come across accounts that feature primarily children in their content on livestreaming and short video platforms. Most of such accounts are vlog channels that showcase the daily lives of children. But many channels have started to develop new forms of content with children, with the content ranging from mukbang, makeup tutorial, fashion to skit.

One extreme case is Peiqi, a three-year-old girl whose parents were accused of abusing and exploiting her by having her partake in mukbang to gain popularity online. Peiqi’s parents uploaded videos of feeding Peiqi an excessive amount of high-calorie food like burgers and fried chicken. Peiqi weighed 35kg despite being only three years old. The account featuring Peiqi had been deleted by the platform after being reported and called out by concerned users.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China released the Guidelines on Enhancing Protection of Minors in the Online Cultural Market to ensure minors’ rights are properly protected in the cyberspace, warning about potential child exploitation.

Using children to make viral content has a number of legal risks. According to China’s Law on the Protection of Minors, organizations and individuals are prohibited from making minors engage in activities that could cause physical and mental harm to minors. The law, which entered into effect on June 1, 2021, stipulates that online streaming service providers are prohibited from providing accounts for minors under 16 years old.