China's NRTA Clears 3.85 Million Pirated Links, Handles 385 Accounts in Summer 2026

During the summer of 2026, the film and television market continued to heat up, but piracy and infringement increased accordingly. Pirated resources of popular movies and TV series were sold at low prices on second-hand trading platforms, and copying and sharing via cloud drives was also common. Such activities harmed the interests of related enterprises and had a negative impact on industry development.

In recent years, special national campaigns against infringing distribution have been steadily advanced. In July 2026, the National Radio and Television Administration, together with key provincial administrations, organized industry stakeholders to remove 3.85 million infringing links and process 385 infringing accounts. Current film and TV piracy exhibits characteristics of being technical, covert, and large-scale, which increases the difficulty of supervision and accountability. Some infringers use AI-based slicing or secondary creation to spread pirated resources. Meanwhile, the compensation amounts awarded in domestic infringement cases remain far below the actual investment in the works, and the long-standing problem of easy infringement but difficult rights protection persists.

In response to piracy and infringement, relevant authorities have adopted multiple measures. They are improving routine inspections and intelligent monitoring systems, relying on rapid detection and precise removal mechanisms to curb the spread of pirated content. A cross-platform joint punishment system has been established to handle infringing acts promptly. Compensation standards are being optimized, with comprehensive consideration of production costs, copyright licensing value, and other factors, to raise the cost of illegal activity. The application of technologies such as digital watermarking and blockchain-based evidence storage in copyright protection is being accelerated to lower the threshold for evidence collection and improve the efficiency of rights enforcement.

For short-video secondary creation, the principle of "authorization first, use later" is implemented, aiming to build a healthy creative ecosystem while combating infringement. In addition, publicity and education are being further strengthened to raise public awareness of copyright, thereby compressing the space for piracy from the demand side.