The Internet Information Offices, Health Commissions, the Market Regulation Bureaus (offices and commissions), and Administrations of Traditional Chinese Medicine of all provinces, autonomous regions, and directly-governed municipalities, and of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:
Popular medical science outreach is conduct that aims to improve the public’s scientific literacy in medicine and health by producing and transmitting knowledge related to the prevention or treatment of diseases in forms such as text, images, audio, or video. Notice of the following work is hereby given in order to consolidate websites' and platforms' primary responsibility for the management of information content, to regulate the publication and dissemination of popular medical science information by “personal media” to raise awareness among “personal media” about conducting popular medical science outreach in a regulated manner, to support the production and dissemination of professional popular medical science outreach content, to prevent false medical information from misleading the public, and to safeguard the lawful rights and interests of the people:
1. Check and Verify Account Credentials by Category. Websites and platforms should further improve efforts to verify the qualifications of medical "personal media” accounts, distinguishing accounts applying for the relevant credentials that are from different areas of medicine, such as practitioners in medical treatment establishments, personnel from medical schools, and medical and pharmaceutical research establishments, to carry out qualification verifications by category. Practitioners from medical treatment establishments are to be divided into categories such as physicians (of Chinese or Western medicine), nurses, pharmaceutical technicians, medical technicians, and researchers, and verify the relevant qualification certificates by category, such as physician credentials, physician practice licences, nurse practice licences, and health professional technical credentials (pharmacy), and materials such as proofs of employment issued by medical treatment establishments (specifying the department). For personnel of medical schools and medical research institutions, verify materials such as employment certifications issued by the school, organizational code documents, and proofs of employment issued by the institutions' departments. For practitioners in other medical fields, verify the corresponding qualification materials by considering circumstances such as the account name and profile.
2. Clearly display account qualification information. Websites and platforms shall, on the basis of qualification verification, strengthen the display of verification information in prominent positions on the account’s homepage; primarily including: the name, professional scope, and other main information from relevant qualification certificates such as the physician qualification certificate, physician practice licenses, nurse practice licenses, and health professional technical qualification certificates (pharmacy); the correct names of their hospital departments/schools/research institution department; whether they are employed; and the name of any MCN institution they are signed with. Ensure that users clearly understand the professional background and relevant work experience of the account operators, so that users can fully assess the authority and expertise of popular medical science outreach published by “self-media.” Websites and platforms should strengthen the protection of personal information in accordance with law, and take appropriate protective measures for the qualifications information of relevant accounts.
3. Strictly label the sources of popular medical science information. Websites and platforms should clearly require that “personal media” accounts providing popular medical science outreach bear responsibility for the veracity and scientificness of the popular medical science information they publish or transmit. When citing or reprinting professional popular medical science content, citing older medical news such as on safety, staging dramatized content using materials from the medical field, generating or synthesizing popular medical science information through artificial intelligence technology, or sharing real health experiences, they must strictly indicate the source of the information or label the content as generated or synthesized. False information must not be maliciously fabricated or disseminated, and inaccurate information must not be arbitrarily edited together and published.
4. Earnestly Complete Qualification Verification Work. Websites and platforms should further strengthen reviews on the authenticity of verification materials in the popular medical science field, strictly comparing and verifying clearly checkable circumstances such as the time limits and issuing departments of certificates and proofs from units. Practice information, such as for physicians and nurses, must be verified through the National Health Commission's official channels for information queries. If false or inaccurate information is discovered, or there are conspicuously suspicious circumstances such as a single medical department/school department/ or department certifying a clearly abnormally high number of people, measures should be taken against the account in accordance with laws and agreements, and further verification conducted to strictly prevent false certification.
5.Strictly Prohibit Unqualified Accounts from Producing or Publishing Professional Popular Medical Science Content. Websites and platforms shall further improve user agreements to strengthen the management of professional popular medical science outreach in accordance with law and agreements, follow the principle of "re-examining the old and strictly managing the new", and strictly prohibit accounts without qualifications from producing or publishing professional popular medical science content. Strictly review existing popular medical science “personal media” accounts, and notify uncertified accounts to complete qualification certification within 2 months. Newly registered “personal media” accounts that have not undergone medical qualification certification must not produce or publish professional popular medical science content.
6. Strengthen Regulation of Online Content. Websites and platforms should further complete incentive mechanisms to encourage the production and dissemination of authoritative, high-quality, and scientific professional popular medical science information. Strengthen norms for the online conduct of accounts in the popular medical science field, and strengthen the detection and handling of popular medical science outreach that violates laws and regulations; strictly control conduct such as the online provision of paid medical services in violation of rules, the certified doctors not appearing themself in livestreams from the certified account, or diverting users to social media platforms or accounts that lack medical certification for interactions or transactions.
7. Strictly Prohibit the Disguised Publication of Advertisements. Websites and platforms should clearly inform “personal media” accounts that they must not use the introduction of health and wellness knowledge to covertly publish advertisements for medical treatment, drugs, medical apparatuses, health foods, or special foods for medical purposes. Content such as the address, contact information, or purchasing links for business or service providers offering medical care, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, health foods, and special foods for medical purposes, must not appear on the same page or at the same time as health and fitness explanations.
8. Strictly Address Information and Accounts that Violate Laws and Regulations. Websites and platforms shall resolutely clean up information that violates laws and regulations such as teaching with no bottom line chase traffic by creating “internet celebrity doctors”; disseminating pornographic or suggestive content under the guise of sexual health knowledge; using AI to fabricate and published homogenized content in the medical field; fabricating health-related stories to sell products or drugs; impersonating doctors to conduct popular science outreach; or promoting the refusal of medical treatment in order to sell health products. For accounts with issues such as not following requirements to label information sources or falsely labeling them, continuing to produce and publish professional popular medical science content without verified qualifications, publishing advertisements in violation of rules, or not complying with rules on popular medical science outreach; escalating measures should be employed in accordance with laws and agreements to cancel their interactive functions, clear up their fans, cancel monetization permissions, mute them, or close their accounts.
All levels of cybersecurity and informatization departments should strengthen oversight and guidance of websites and platforms, strengthen regulation and management of “personal media” in the popular medical science field, and strengthen the handling of information and accounts with relevant violations of laws and regulations. All levels of health departments and departments for traditional Chinese medicine should guide hospitals to strengthen the regulation and management of the online conduct of Western and Chinese Medicine practitioners, and address doctors with negative online conduct, and so forth, in accordance with laws, regulations, and discipline. Continuously increase the supply of popular medical science knowledge related to Chinese and Western medicine, and convey more authoritative and professional health knowledge to the public in diverse and accessible forms. In accordance with their duties, market regulation departments at all levels shall strengthen the supervision of online commercial marketing activities, investigate and address llegal acts such as the disguised publication of medical advertisements in accordance with law, to protect consumers’ lawful rights and interests.
Secretariat of the Cyberspace Administration of China
General Office of the National Health Commission
General Office of the State Administration for Market Regulation
General Department of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine
2025/7/28
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