China: A TMT: Media & Entertainment (PRC Firms) Overview
Regulation in Deep Waters: Compliance as the New Normal
In 2025, as macro-economic growth slows, the industry has shifted into a zero-sum game. Marketing budgets and content spending are being scaled back across the board, while every major platform is re-engineering its business portfolio and shuttering non-profitable projects. At the same time, the legislative pipeline has accelerated. This year’s regulatory agenda has zeroed-in on three fronts – AI, micro-dramas and data assets. Tighter rules have turned compliance from a discretionary cost into a non-negotiable line item.
Escalated enforcement: compliance spending turns from discretionary to unavoidable
Artificial intelligence
Early 2025 saw DeepSeek release a new iteration that slashed inference costs, igniting an explosion of AI-generated content on short-video platforms. Celebrity face-swaps and voice clones flooded feeds, their near-perfect fidelity making raw-eye detection almost impossible. In April, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) launched Qinglang: Rectifying AI-Technology Abuse, a three-month blitz that pulled 3,500+ non-compliant mini-apps and agents, scrubbed 960,000 pieces of illegal material and terminated 3,700 accounts. On 1 September 2025, the Administrative Measures for the Labelling of AI-Generated Synthetic Content plus companion mandatory national standards took effect, obliging platforms to embed both hidden metadata watermarks and front-end visible labels. To keep repeat offenders off the payroll, several platforms now maintain internal risk lists that auto-flag producers, studios, writers or performers with prior violations before any new contract is signed.
Micro-dramas
In 2025 the National Radio and Television Administration released three back-to-back Guidance Notices targeting instant-gratification dramas, war narratives and animated micro-series, creating a full-chain regime that scrutinises genre, format and audience alike. The notices strike once-exempt traffic magnets such as time-travel and rebirth off the safe list, ordering stories back to real-world logic and mainstream values. Plots involving the Second World War must scrap any fantastical premises and adhere to documented history. Animated micro-dramas – precisely because they slip into minors’ feeds – are folded into the same licence-review track as live-action shows, but with even tougher, age-attuned benchmarks to close the “toon loophole”. Responsibility is pinned on whoever broadcasts, produces or promotes: platforms must “review first, air later” for every animated short, while provincial regulators file monthly patrol returns, locking in a closed loop of pre-filing, spot checks and post-broadcast liability.
Data assets
The media and entertainment industry – encompassing AIGC, film/TV production and online platform operations – inherently involves massive flows of personal information and data. Front-end operations must first meet compliance requirements for personal information and data. Back-end, data meeting asset definitions must be classified under “Intangible Assets – Data Resources” or “Inventory – Data Resources” per the Interim Provisions on Accounting Treatment Related to Corporate Data Resources, achieving a complete closed-loop from compliance governance to financial statements. The Measures for the Personal Information Protection Compliance Audit, implemented May 2025, introduced the “Dual random selections plus timely release of results” audit mechanism into regulations for the first time. Enterprises processing personal information exceeding 10 million individuals must conduct self-audits every two years. Sensitive data, such as portraits and voice recordings of minors under 14 years old, requires separate notification and written consent from guardians. Violations may incur fines up to CNY50 million and result in disqualification of responsible individuals. As the year draws to a close, the Ministry of Finance, the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission jointly issued the Notice on Strictly lmplementing Accounting Standards for Business Enterprises and Effectively Completing the Annual Report Work of Enterprises for the Year of 2025. This notice clarifies that data can only be recorded as intangible asset or inventory using the “Cost method”, and that valuation gains cannot be directly adjusted in the accounts. Furthermore, only data that has undergone compliance audits can be recognised as an asset.
Trends in judicial discretion: significant increases in damages awards and diversification of mechanisms to combat trolls
Around July 2025, three High People’s Courts successively issued rulings on multiple short video infringement cases within a 60-day period: cases involving De Yun Dou Xiao She, Everlasting Longing for Each Other, and The Knockout resulted in compensation awards of CNY60 million, CNY29.1 million and CNY30 million, respectively. Combined with the CNY1.6 million awarded by the Shanghai High People’s Court in May for infringement of The Legend of Zhenhuan, this series of rulings significantly increased cumulative compensation for short video clip infringement. Judicial practice indicates that the standard for addressing such infringements has shifted from routine rectification to the comprehensive application of measures including punitive damages, injunctions and technical filtering.
By 2025, Judicial Organs will transition from “post-incident administrative punishment” to a multi-dimensional governance model combining “injunction and public interest compensation claims” for regulating the internet water army. The Primary People’s Court of Chongqing Yuzhong Area issued the region’s first preliminary injunction during a goodwill rights dispute, ordering the defendant to remove and block disparaging content posted by hired trolls within 72 hours. A daily penalty of CNY100,000 was imposed for non-compliance, effectively raising the cost of infringement to curb the spread of harmful information. Meanwhile, the Hangzhou Internet Court ruled in a civil public interest lawsuit that organising trolls to engage in activities such as “giving a like, commenting, reposting, deleting a post, and stimulating purchasing desire” constitutes the dissemination of false information and harms public interests. The court ordered the defendant to pay CNY1 million in public interest compensation and to issue a public apology in national media outlets.
2026 outlook: the impact of compliance system development on corporate competitiveness
As regulatory frameworks gradually mature, enforcement priorities are shifting towards refined and routine management practices. Against this backdrop, enterprises may consider expanding compliance management beyond mere legal advisory services to encompass internal governance processes.
Specifically, enterprises may establish comprehensive content life-cycle archives covering project selection, production review and broadcast release to ensure traceability throughout management processes. At the operational level, it is advisable to integrate compliance review checkpoints into critical business functions such as commercial operations, finance and administration, while exploring the weighting of compliance decisions in project evaluations. Additionally, conducting regular stress tests on tax compliance, copyright protection and personal information security helps enterprises anticipate and address potential legal vulnerabilities.
From an industry development perspective, when the economic costs of compliance risks become correlated with project investment scale, compliance management may evolve beyond a mere cost centre to become an integral part of the business model. Companies may need to deeply consider how, amid increasingly stringent market access standards, building compliance capabilities can translate into a core competitive advantage in long-term competition and influence their standing during industry consolidation.
监管深水区下的合规新常态
2025年，受宏观经济增速放缓影响，行业进入存量竞争阶段。市场推广预算与内容投入普遍收缩，各平台积极优化业务结构，关停非盈利项目。与此同时，法律法规建设进程显著加快。年度监管政策主要围绕人工智能、微短剧及数据资产三大领域展开，监管政策的收紧使得行业合规成本已从企业的弹性投入转变为刚性支出。
执法力度提升：合规投入由弹性支出转向刚性成本
人工智能
2025年初，DeepSeek发布新版本，大模型推理成本显著下降，带动AIGC供给量快速上升。短视频平台出现大量明星换脸、拟声内容，高度相似的合成形象或语音使得直接辨认难度增加。中央网络安全和信息化委员会办公室4月启动“清朗·整治AI技术滥用”专项行动，至6月累计下架违规小程序、智能体3500余款，清理违法信息96万条，处置账号3700余个。2025年9月1日，《人工智能生成合成内容标识办法》及配套强制性国家标准实施，要求“文件元数据隐式标识+用户端显式标注”双维度落地，双标识成为平台应尽的义务。部分平台建立内部风险名单，对曾发布违规内容的出品、承制、编剧及演员进行标记，再次合作前系统自动提示。
微短剧
2025年，国家广播电视总局针对“爽感”题材、战争叙事及动画微短剧连续发布三份《管理提示》，构建起涵盖“题材、形态、受众”的全链条监管体系。《管理提示》明确将“穿越”、“重生”等流量标签移出豁免清单，要求内容回归现实逻辑与主流价值导向；对于二战题材，严禁非现实的悬浮设定，强调叙事的历史准确性；将动画微短剧纳入与真人剧同等的审核体系，尤其针对其未成年人触达率高的特点，执行更严格的差异化审核标准，旨在消除通过动画形态规避监管的现象。责任层面，则重申“谁播出、谁制作、谁宣发、谁负责”的主体责任制。平台须对动画微短剧执行“先审后播”，省级监管部门按月上报巡查结果，确立了“事前备案、事中抽查、事后追责”的闭环管理机制。
数据资产
传媒娱乐行业涵盖AIGC、影视制作与网络平台运营，天然伴随海量个人信息与数据流转：前端须先满足个人信息以及数据的合规要求，后端对于符合资产定义的数据，则需按《企业数据资源相关会计处理暂行规定》纳入“无形资产—数据资源”或“存货—数据资源”，实现从合规治理到财务报表的完整闭环。2025年5月施行的《个人信息保护合规审计管理办法》首次把“双随机、一公开”审计机制写进规章，个人信息处理规模大于1000万人的企业须每两年自审一次，14岁以下未成年人肖像、语音等敏感数据必须单独告知并获监护人书面同意，违规最高罚5000万元并可禁入责任人。今年即将结束之时，财政部、国务院国资委、金融监管总局，中国证监会四部门联合发布《关于严格执行企业会计准则切实做好企业2025年年报工作的通知》，明确数据只能按“成本法”入账为无形资产或存货，评估增值不得直接调账，且只有完成合规审计的数据才能确认资产。
司法裁量趋势：赔偿额度显著提升与水军治理机制的多元化
2025年7月前后，三地高级人民法院在60日内相继对多起短视频侵权案件作出判决：其中涉及《德云斗笑社》《长相思》及《狂飙》的案件判赔金额分别为6000万元、2910万元和3000万元，加之5月上海高院对《甄嬛传》侵权案判赔的160万元，系列判决使短视频切片侵权的累计赔偿额度显著提升。司法实践表明，针对此类侵权行为的裁量标准已由常规整改转向综合应用“惩罚性赔偿、行为禁令与技术过滤”等手段。
2025年，司法机关对“网络水军”的治理模式由“事后行政处罚”向“行为禁令与公益索赔”相结合的立体化治理转变。重庆市渝中区人民法院在审理商誉权纠纷时，发出了当地首份诉中禁令，责令被告在72小时内撤回并屏蔽雇佣水军发布的贬损信息，并设定每日10万元的逾期罚款，通过提高违规成本限制侵权信息的扩散。与此同时，杭州互联网法院在民事公益诉讼中认定，组织水军进行“转评赞、删帖、种草”等行为构成传播虚假信息及损害公共利益，判处100万元公益赔偿金并责令在国家级媒体公开道歉。
2026年展望：合规体系建设对企业竞争力的影响
随着监管框架的逐步完善，执法重点正向精细化与常态化管理转型。在此背景下，企业可以考虑将合规管理从单纯的法律事务咨询延伸为内部治理流程。
具体而言，企业可尝试建立涵盖选题立项、制作审核、上线播出等环节的内容全生命周期档案，实现管理流程的可追溯性。在业务操作层面，建议在商务、运营、财务等关键环节设置合规评审节点，并探索合规决策在项目评估中的权重。此外，定期开展针对税务合规、版权保护及个人信息安全的压力测试，有助于企业预判并修补潜在的法律风险漏洞。
从行业发展角度看，当合规风险带来的经济成本与项目投入规模趋于相关联时，合规管理可能不再仅是成本中心，而将逐渐成为商业模式的有机组成部分。企业或需深入思考，在市场准入标准不断提高的环境下，合规能力的建设如何在长期竞争中转化为企业的核心竞争优势，并影响其在行业整合过程中的地位。