China Now Requires Influencers to Show Degrees to Speak on Medicine, Finance, and Law

Lots of folks — especially older generations who often trust that friendly influencer with the “miracle health cure” — have fallen into traps: 📱💬 scrolling a short-video, seeing someone claim “use this herbal drink, no need for a doctor”, and bam — bad outcome. In response, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has rolled out a rule (effective 25 Oct 2025) that if you’re an influencer in China talking about medicine/health, finance or law, you now need to show relevant credentials: a degree, licence or professional certification.

The move is aimed pretty squarely at the medicine side: when someone posts “take this cure”, “skip the test”, “this supplement solves it” — the consequences can be life-threatening. So platforms like Douyin, Bilibili and Weibo must now verify that creators teaching health stuff are legit, mark when AI/edited content or weird dramatizations are used, and ban disguised product ads posing as education.

Some creators welcome this as a trust boost (“okay, finally we weed out dodgy health hacks”), while others worry it’s yet another layer of control or gatekeeping — “who gets to decide ‘qualified’?”

In short: in China’s influencer world, if you want to talk about health, finance or law, having the followers isn’t enough — now you need the credentials too. 🎓✨