Bilibili

Is Bilibili safe?

Bilibili is a large, established platform, but it is not a private one. The main app tracks users for advertising, keeps all their data in mainland China and asks for a real name and a face scan before you can go live or withdraw money. Chinese regulators have also penalised it again and again over content shown to minors. We score it 42/100, close to RedNote and well below YouTube at 54.

Bilibili Inc. is listed in New York and Hong Kong and had 368 million monthly users on average in 2025, according to its annual report. The app is known for anime, game videos and "bullet comments" that scroll across the screen. This page scores the main Chinese app, 哔哩哔哩, run by Shanghai Kuanyu Digital Technology. The international app sold outside China is a separate service, covered below.

What the Chinese app collects

Apple's privacy label for the China App Store says Bilibili uses your user ID, device ID and advertising data to track you across other companies' apps. Linked to your identity are purchases, browsing history, usage and, for some features, your name, address, email and phone number. Precise location is collected for advertising, though not linked to you, according to the label.

The privacy policy, updated in February 2026, goes further. To keep the service "stable and secure", Bilibili collects your installed apps, Wi-Fi list, Bluetooth adapter data, running processes and Wi-Fi network names, including while the app is in the background. It uses GPS location, predicted age and predicted gender for recommendations. It reads your clipboard each time you open the app to catch shared links. All of it is stored only in mainland China, where national law gives authorities broad access to company data.

On the positive side, the policy is detailed and versioned: Bilibili publishes every version since February 2021, plus a list of third-party SDKs and data partners. You can switch off personalised content and personalised ads separately in the privacy settings, and delete your account in the app.

Regulators and minors

Bilibili's users are young, and that is where most official action has landed. In August 2020 the Cyberspace Administration of China named Bilibili among platforms whose online learning channels pushed vulgar content to minors. In December 2020 the national anti-pornography office said it had received more than 500 complaints that year about Bilibili, including cartoons that used children's characters for disturbing content, and that Shanghai authorities had opened six administrative penalty cases and summoned the company more than ten times. On 3 December 2020 Shanghai officials ordered a two-week clean-up and froze the launch of new features until it passed inspection.

In February 2023 the CAC reported that during 2022 it had summoned, ordered fixes from, or fined Douyin, Kuaishou, Bilibili and other platforms over sexual content, abuse and pushing users to tip streamers; it did not say which platform got which penalty. Bilibili's own annual report says its app was once temporarily removed from app stores and that local authorities have made inquiries about content. Some of this enforcement reflects China's broad content controls, not only user safety, but the orders cited here named harm to minors.

Security record

In April 2019 a large part of Bilibili's back-end source code was posted on GitHub. Bilibili confirmed the leak, said the code was an old version and reported it to the authorities; users who read it said it contained some email addresses and passwords. In July 2022 someone offered 220 million user IDs and phone numbers for sale on the dark web; Bilibili said its checks showed the data was false. Its 2025 annual report says it has had no material cybersecurity incident.

Bilibili runs a security response centre, BILISRC, that rewards bug reports with points exchangeable for gift cards. The policy promises SSL encryption in transit but does not describe end-to-end encryptionEnd-to-end encryptionEncryption in which only the sender and the recipient can read a message. The company running the service cannot see its content.More in the glossary for private messages.

The international app

Outside China, Apple and Google list "bilibili - Anime · Video HD" from Bilibili Singapore, with over 100 million Android installs. It is a different service with its own catalogue and policy. Its Apple label also lists user ID and device ID used to track you. The March 2025 policy stores data in Singapore but lets affiliates "in other countries (e.g., China)" access it, and its California section says it "sold" and "shared" device, browsing and purchase data with ad partners in the past year. It bars under-13s and sets higher ages in some countries, from 16 in Vietnam to 21 in Indonesia. We score it on its own page, Bilibili International (51).

How to use Bilibili more safely

1. Switch off personalised ads and personalised content in the app's privacy settings.
2. Deny location, Bluetooth and contacts permissions; the app works without them.
3. Do not link WeChat, Weibo or QQ, or on the international app Facebook or Google, unless you need to.
4. Skip real-name verification unless you want to stream or earn; it requires your ID and a face scan.
5. For a child, use the youth mode on the Chinese app and check what they watch; regulators have found unsuitable content there.

How we scored it

Privacy (30) is the weakest factor: tracking, background device scans and storage in China. Regulatory record (42) reflects years of summons, penalty cases and fines over content shown to minors, without one large fine. Transparency and control (55) is the strongest, thanks to a detailed, versioned policy and in-app deletion. For licensed anime under US and EU privacy law, compare Crunchyroll (56).