AI "number waste" rampant
Digital waste/digital garbage" is a concept that is being mentioned more and more as AI-generated content explodes. Xinhua News Agency uses the phrase "digital garbage" to refer to low-quality digital content, mass-produced, in which AI plays an increasingly large role.
Contents such as "sảng văn" stories, animated videos that are "overmade", fake videos and stories using violence against violence for revenge are appearing densely. These are contents that have the characteristics of fast production, low cost, simple or illogical plot but easily attract attention.
According to Lam Tinh Tinh, a person working in the publishing industry, users only need to provide AI with a storyline, characters and some details and then conduct training to quickly create a large amount of similar content.
In June this year, Xinhua News Agency had an article warning about the situation of AI producing short films with "chaotic, distorted, vulgar" details. Many works exploit revenge motifs, space travel, kneeling beggar characters or illogical details to create visual stimulation.
When AI significantly reduces production costs, poor quality content can be "recycled", mass-produced and quickly reach viewers through the platform's algorithm.
The scale of the market also makes the issue noteworthy. According to the China National Radio and Television Administration, in the first 8 months of 2026, China had 430,000 short films released, 13 times the total of the whole year of 2025. Of which, short films created by AI accounted for more than 90%.
Many viewers complained about the character's appearance being similar, stiff expressions, and overlapping plots.
Tightening from production to distribution
China is shifting from handling each violating content to managing the entire AI content production and distribution chain.
From April 2026, the China Cyberspace Administration (CAC) launched the campaign "Internet Cleanup - Rectifying Problems in AI Applications", focusing on both content creation sources and distribution platforms.
The management agency requests to strengthen the inspection of training data, the censorship capacity of the model and the labeling of content created by AI; and at the same time handle accounts, organizations operating account networks and platforms distributing violating content.
A noteworthy point is the mandatory mechanism for recognizing short films created by AI. From September 1, 2026, China's "Regulation on management of short film development" officially takes effect, requiring short films created or produced using AI technology to have clear warning labels at easily visible locations in each episode.
The regulation also sets out "red lines" on content. Short films must not contain 11 groups of content such as harming national security, distorting national history, defaming traditional culture, infringing upon the legitimate rights and interests of minors...
Notably, this regulation not only targets content creators but also imposes responsibility on distribution algorithms.
Short film distribution units must periodically check and evaluate mechanisms and algorithmic models; prioritize proposing high-quality works and are not allowed to use algorithms that are seductive, causing users to become "addicted" or overspending.
The management agency also emphasized the direction of developing high-quality works. Since the beginning of the year, 68,000 violating short films have been removed across the Chinese network and directed the handling of more than 1,200 violating accounts. More than 90% of the content being handled is AI films.
The problem is not whether AI produces videos or not, but whether this technology is making low-quality content that can be produced at unprecedented speed and scale.
Therefore, China does not choose to ban AI short films but is trying to put this technology into a stricter management framework: AI must be identified, content must be censored, platforms must be responsible, and algorithms must not only run according to traffic.
The goal emphasized by the Chinese management agency is to move the short film industry from the "running for quantity" race to develop in the direction of "improving quality".
