The BBC World Service report tells the story of “Eric” (not his real name), who in 2023 realised that a pornographic video he was watching online showed himself and his girlfriend during a hotel stay in Shenzhen. The footage had been recorded by a hidden camera in their room and made available to thousands of viewers.
According to the BBC’s investigation, so-called spy-cam porn has existed in China for at least a decade and has gained renewed attention in recent years, prompting many hotel guests, particularly women, to take drastic measures to avoid being filmed. Although new government regulations introduced in 2025 require hotels to regularly check for hidden cameras, the BBC found thousands of recent illicit videos filmed in hotel rooms.
Much of the material is promoted via Telegram, which is banned in China but widely used for illicit activities. Over an 18-month period, the BBC identified several websites and apps claiming to operate more than 180 hotel-room spy cameras, some of them livestreaming guests’ activities. The broadcaster estimates that thousands of hotel guests may have been filmed without their knowledge.
The investigation also traced one of the cameras to a hotel room in Zhengzhou, central China, hidden inside a ventilation unit and connected to the building’s power supply. The BBC found evidence of a structured operation involving agents and higher-level operators, generating significant profits through paid subscriptions, far exceeding the average annual income in China.
