🌐 Building a website or platform: licenses, filing, and servers
You want to build a website or an app. This section answers 4 things: what kind of business it counts as in law, which permit you need, where the servers sit, and who is responsible for what users post and for the money that comes in. The measure is personal liberty and money. If you are a hired technician, the red lines are in section 11. How to register a company and how to file taxes are in section 12, and this section does not repeat them. A comparison table of the permits, and a decision table for choosing a server, are in docs/做平台要办哪些证.md.
English, Russian and Spanish use dlgrv’s unofficial translations. Newly revised entries appear in the Chinese original until a checked translation is available. The author’s latest Chinese text is authoritative. Translation revision: dlgrv/HowToLiveBetter · b25fa8a
If the buyer's money goes into your account first and you then pass it to the seller, you are running a payment business. That business needs approval from the People's Bank of China, and you have to actually put up 100000000 yuan of capital. Doing it without approval gets you shut down, the money you earned taken, and a fine on top. The boss and the person who handled it are fined separately, and a serious case can also mean a criminal sentence. There is only 1 safe way: the money does not enter your account.
Cost
No monetary cost is involved. However, it requires some ti…
Benefit
Regulations define payment business as "transferring monetary funds based on electronic payment instructions s…
A website that charges users mostly has to get a value-added telecommunications business license first, and an individual cannot apply for it. The Guangdong Communications Administration answered: if you only sell goods on your own website or app, and you do not let others open a shop there, you do not need it. If you only run a mini program or an online shop on WeChat or Alipay, you do not need it either. If you open a paid site without the license you should have, the income is confiscated and a fine is added, and a serious case means the site is shut.
Cost
Registration is free of charge. Obtaining a Value-Added Te…
Benefit
The regulations state: “The state implements a licensing system for commercial Internet information services a…
To run live streams or game commentary, you need an online cultural business license issued by the provincial culture department, and the business scope has to state online performance. You get a result within 20 days after acceptance, and the license covers 3 years. You have to keep videos you have already streamed for a full 60 days. If you open without the license, you are told to stop and given a warning, and then fined up to 30000 yuan. If you do not stop, you go on a blacklist.
Cost
The so-called “Online Cultural Activities License” governs…
Benefit
An organization providing online performances must obtain a license first. The regulation requires it to “appl…
If the server sits inside China, you have to file before the site opens. It costs nothing, and it usually takes a few days to a few weeks. Without filing you are first ordered to correct and fined 10000 yuan, and if you do not correct, the site is shut. An app and a mini program also have to be filed first. Without filing, the app store and the mini-program platform are not allowed to list you.
Cost
Filing costs nothing. You submit it together with the serv…
Benefit
The regulation says: "Without filing, non-commercial internet information services may not be provided inside…
If you let other people sell on your platform, you first check the seller's identity, address, contact details, and license, then register them and open a file. Once the file is open, you go back and check again at least every 6 months. Who the seller is has to be reported to market supervision, the tax situation is reported to the tax authority every quarter, and the goods and transaction records are kept for 3 years. Miss 1 of these and you are first ordered to correct. If you do not correct, the fine is 20000 to 100000 yuan.
Cost
No direct monetary cost. However, the platform must perfor…
Benefit
Legal regulations set specific obligations for platforms. The official wording states that platforms must requ…
What users post, the platform has to manage. Registration, review of posts, review of comments, a daily patrol, and what to do when something happens all need a written system. Put a report entry where it is easy to see on the page. When you see illegal information, stop it from spreading at once, keep the record, and report it to the authority in charge. If you do not, the fine can be 50000 to 500000 yuan, and a serious case is more.
Cost
It costs money to hire moderators — this is the platform’s…
Benefit
The regulation says the platform "shall fulfill the primary responsibility for managing information content."…
If your site can take posts, or can chat, you have to ask for the user's real identity information when the user opens the service. If the user does not give it, you cannot let them use it. The live-stream rule is that the back end stores the real name, and the nickname shown on the page is up to the user. You can check with a mobile number. If you do not do real-name checks, you are first ordered to correct. If you do not correct, the fine is 50000 to 500000 yuan, and the site may also be shut.
Cost
Implementing a real-name verification system involves payi…
Benefit
The law says: "Where a network operator handles network access or domain-name registration for a user, handles…
People under 16 cannot register an account on your platform to broadcast live. Those who have reached 16 must have their identity verified and obtain consent from a parent or other guardian. Tipping has three age bands: under 8, no tipping; from 8 to 16, guardian consent; and at 16 or older, guardian consent or verification of proof of income. If a child tips without the guardian’s knowledge and the guardian requests the money back, the court will order a refund.
Cost
There are no direct costs. The process simply requires add…
Benefit
The law says: “Online live-streaming service providers must not register broadcaster accounts for minors under…
If someone sends you an infringement notice with preliminary evidence, you must promptly delete, block, or remove the relevant content and forward the notice to the seller. Failing to act in time means you and the seller will be jointly liable for any additional losses incurred. After receiving the seller’s defense, forward it to the claimant and wait 15 days. If the claimant files no complaint or lawsuit during this period, you can restore the content.
Cost
No cost involved. You must establish a fixed workflow: rec…
Benefit
Rights holders are entitled to request e-commerce platforms to take necessary measures such as deleting, block…
Sending information about users inside China to a machine abroad is called an export, and putting the server abroad counts the same. In general you have to pass a security assessment by the cyberspace authority, or get a certification, or sign a standard contract. If the running total for the year is under 100000 people and does not include sensitive information, all 3 of those are waived. You also have to tell the user who abroad receives it and what they will use it for, and get that person's separate consent.
Cost
No cost involved. The simplest solution is to keep user da…
Benefit
Giving information about users inside China to an overseas company, or storing it on machines abroad, is legal…
The main difference among these three options isn’t price — it’s what resources you’ll have at hand when something goes wrong. Big providers offer registration pathways, publish their credentials, issue outage notices, and include compensation clauses in their contracts, so help is readily available. Smaller vendors may charge half as much, but they often over‑sell capacity, disappear without notice, or get cut off by upstream providers; in such cases you won’t know who to turn to. For static websites that contain no user data, a cheap VPS costing just a few dozen yuan is perfectly adequate.
Cost
Cloud instances from major providers typically cost severa…
Benefit
The difference among the 3 tiers is not the price. It is what you have in hand on the day something goes wrong…
If user information is leaked, altered or lost, or may be, remedy it immediately and notify the authorities and affected users. Concealment first brings an order to correct; failure to correct can mean fines up to 1 million yuan, or up to 50 million in serious cases. If users suffer harm, you must compensate unless you prove absence of fault. Protective measures, response under a plan and timely reporting may justify reduced or no liability depending on circumstances.
Cost
It costs nothing. Write a plan in advance for the day some…
Benefit
The Personal Information Protection Law says: "Where a leak, alteration, or loss of personal information occur…
If you sell an auto-renewing membership, remind the user in a way that stands out, both before the user turns it on and before each charge. During the membership, give 1 entry that can cancel or change it at any time. It has to be easy to find and easy to tap, and you may not charge an unreasonable extra fee. If you take the money without the reminder, the fine can be 1 to 5 times the illegal gains. If there are no illegal gains, the fine is up to 300000 yuan.
Cost
It costs nothing. On the signup page, state the auto-renew…
Benefit
The Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Transactions say that, where a service is provid…
