"Spicy Kids" Comeback: Why Has Xiaohongshu's Minor Protection Initiative Made No Progress After Four Years?

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At the recently concluded National "Two Sessions," "Strengthening online content development and management" and "Advancing protection for minors online" were included in the government work report. However, LiZhi News's latest investigation today found that Xiaohongshu, a social platform with nearly 30 billion downloads, continues to push soft pornographic content to minors in bulk. The interaction areas have become hotbeds of harassment, and even diaper advertisements are skirting the line. More worryingly, data from Qichacha shows that this company has been summoned by multiple departments at least six times over content safety issues, including a 2021 warning for spreading soft pornographic emojis of children and using short videos with sexual hints to attract traffic. Five years later, the problems persist.

Test Results: 15-year-old female account receives targeted algorithmic content

During testing, it was found that logging into Xiaohongshu requires no real-name verification, and personal information can be freely set as "15-year-old female." However, once the platform recognizes the user as a minor, it does not activate strict adolescent protection modes but instead pushes大量色情边缘小说, images, and interactive topics to the account. The algorithm seems to accurately identify young female users and guide them toward ambiguous adult content.

"Questions from middle school girls" become harassment hotspots

On Xiaohongshu, the "Q&A" interactive mode is popular among young students. However, posts labeled "Questions from middle school girls" or "Sixth-grade girls ask anything" are flooded with inappropriate questions in the comment sections. These include inquiries about menstrual details, sexual orientation, underwear styles, and even requests for body part photos.

A user claiming to be a first-year middle school girl expressed frustration in a pinned comment, saying she intended to make friends but received numerous inappropriate harassment messages. Her words reveal feelings of helplessness and fear among minors.

Wu Bo, chief lawyer at Jiangsu Subo Law Firm, told LiZhi News that if the person being questioned is indeed a minor, such online harassment is extremely malicious. "As an adult responding to such messages, if the reply involves indecency or privacy, or if they ask for private photos or images, or use language to provoke her, it could constitute harassment. If the circumstances are serious, it may even amount to a crime of molestation."

Absurd! Diaper advertisements also "borderline"

Beyond harassment in interaction sections, investigations found that some merchants use unscrupulous marketing tactics to attract traffic and sell products. On Xiaohongshu, there are content showing children dressed in adult sexy clothing or styled in adult-like poses. Some even display裸露的儿童模特穿着纸尿裤的图片 in diaper sales promotions.

Comment sections on these posts include users expressing discomfort and opposition, accusing such content of "borderline" and "sexualizing children," with some calling for a "ban on child sexy styles."

Lawyers believe these contents already involve soft child pornography. "For minors, such behavior should be zero tolerance. The products sold and the images or videos shown are unrelated, and they can trigger inappropriate associations in psychologically troubled individuals."

Yin Fei, deputy director of the Family Education Research Institute at Nanjing Normal University, issued a warning from an educational perspective: guardians posting such images or videos online to attract traffic not only infringes on minors' rights but also severely impacts children's value development. "Many of these contents are adultized or involve publicizing private life, which is extremely harmful to minors' protection."

Adults disguising as minors to attract traffic, experts warn of potential criminal chains

The investigation also found that soft child pornography has become a "gimmick" for some users to gain traffic. Some adults deliberately use minors' identities to participate in interactions for attention. Under a post labeled "Middle school girl," a user posted a voice clip meant for traffic diversion, which, based on tone and voice, sounds like an adult.

Some adults also intentionally dress up as young children and post borderline images or videos. Yin Fei commented: "The infantilization and childlike dressing of adults to attract attention and generate economic benefits, satisfying some unhealthy preferences or darker human instincts, is a serious social psychological issue. Once it becomes an industry or channel, it can lead to more serious criminal chains."

Six Summons in Five Years: From "Child Soft Porn Emojis" to "Hot Search Chaos"

Qichacha shows that Xiaohongshu's parent company, Xingyin Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., has repeatedly appeared on regulatory blacklists, being summoned at least six times by multiple departments for content safety and false advertising issues:

- July 21, 2021: Summoned by Cyberspace Administration for "spreading child soft porn emojis and using minors' sexual hints in short videos to attract traffic." Xiaohongshu responded with an apology and announced a new round of minor governance initiatives.

- September 2021: A parent of an elementary school student, Jiang, found that Xiaohongshu kept recommending videos featuring minors' daily lives, including many that exposed minors' privacy, raising concerns.

- The videos were shot by minors themselves, directly showing private parts, with comments and bullet screens containing strong sexual hints.

- Recently, Xiaohongshu's affiliated company, Xingyin Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., was fined 300,000 yuan by the Huangpu District Culture and Tourism Bureau for failing to immediately stop transmitting harmful content involving minors, after discovering user posts with such content.

- On January 23, 2022, Xiaohongshu responded that the penalty was related to the 2021 CCTV report on minor content review lapses. The platform pledged to improve content recognition and governance.

- March 11, 2022: Summoned by Anhui Consumer Protection Committee for "hidden price hikes, false original prices, false advertising."

- May 9, 2022: Criticized for "overhyping and false recommendations."

- September 11, 2022: Summoned by Shanghai Cyberspace Administration for "frequent promotion of celebrity gossip and trivial topics on trending lists, damaging online ecology."

- December 17, 2022: Summoned by multiple Beijing departments for "posting real estate panic-mongering, false information, and illegal listings."

- June 17, 2020: Summoned by Jiading District Market Supervision Bureau for rising advertising violations.

Notably, the 2021 summons focused on "child soft porn emojis," a problem still unresolved four years later despite Xiaohongshu's promise of a "minor governance special."

Other social apps' age verification similarly ineffective

The reporter also tested other social apps with over 100 million downloads—Tantan, Momo, Taqu, and Soul—finding that all explicitly require users to be over 18. However, except for Tantan's face recognition, the other three apps did not verify the fake ages users entered, exposing common loopholes in minors' protection at the entry point.

Recommendations and Legal Calls for Clear Regulations

During this year's "Two Sessions," a deputy suggested that although the revised "Minor Protection Law" includes a chapter on "online protection," it still lacks detailed standards and scope for harmful content and behaviors.

Lawyer Wu Bo recommends adopting a "general public standard" to identify soft porn: "Most people, at first glance, should be able to tell if something is problematic. The public's judgment should be the standard. For example, that diaper ad—it's unnecessary to depict it in such a way, and the imagery gives an uncomfortable feeling."

Deputy Director Yin Fei emphasized that adult disguises to attract minors and the commercialization of child soft porn reflect platform prioritization of traffic. "Once it becomes an industry, more serious criminal chains will emerge."

From 2021 to 2026, from "child soft porn emojis" to "borderline diaper ads," Xiaohongshu's rectifications seem to surface on trending topics only to fade afterward. As of this report, Xiaohongshu has not responded to the latest exposure. The records of six summons over five years show that protecting minors online cannot rely solely on reactive "whack-a-mole" regulation but requires platforms to truly prioritize the "best interests of children" in algorithmic and content review mechanisms.

This article is a compilation of reports from LiZhi News · Jiangsu News (an account under Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation).