Media regulation in China: The bigger you grow, the harder the punch

The government has loosely defined what's "immoral" to give leeway for material it might consider inappropriate at a later date

Short-video streaming in China, projected to harvest a quarter of the country's 1.3 billion population by 2018, has become the latest target of government censorship.

From Facebook-type video streaming to livestreaming and short-video apps, the government has been trying to wrest control from industry players, citing lack of a content license required to legally broadcast online and proliferation of illegal content.

Acquiring such a license used to be relatively easy at one time. But in 2008, the government mandated all applicants must be wholly state-owned or controlled. It’s a condition almost impossible to meet – most of China’s