知乎 (Zhihu)
Platform · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.
Overview
知乎 (Zhihu) is a Chinese question-and-answer community that has grown into a general-purpose content platform. The company describes itself this way: «Since the initial launch in 2010, Zhihu has grown into the largest Q&A-inspired online content community in China» — this is an issuer's statement, not an independent assessment.
The product is «lawfully owned and operated by 北京智者天下科技有限公司 (Beijing Zhizhe Tianxia Technology Co., Ltd.) and its affiliates», and Zhihu Inc. is a listed company with a dual primary listing on the NYSE (ZH) and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (2390). A rare case: almost everything the platform says about itself can be checked against mandatory reporting.
Who's here
From the 2025 annual report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission: as of 31 December 2025 — 80.3 million cumulative content creators who had created 953.9 million pieces of content across more than 1,000 verticals; more than 73.2% of active users under 30, with women making up 59.6% of the active audience in December 2025; average monthly subscribing members of 15.0 million in 2024 and 13.5 million in 2025. A fresher figure: «Average monthly subscribing members were 13.1 million in the first quarter of 2026» — the trend is downward.
There is no MAU figure in the recent reports: the definition remains, but the company has stopped disclosing the value, so there is nothing on which to judge the platform's overall reach. The language is Chinese; no international versions are announced.
Getting started
Some functions are available without an account, but you cannot publish without registering: before publishing content and starting a broadcast you must register and pass real-identity confirmation in accordance with the requirements of state law; an account may not be given away, rented out, transferred or sold, mass registration of accounts is prohibited, and an account not logged into for more than 6 months may be frozen or reclaimed by the platform. The version of the agreement in force is dated 20 March 2025.
A company account (机构号)
机构号 (jīgòu hào) is the official format for a business presence: a channel for companies, organisations, associations and state bodies that allows the services to be used on behalf of an organisation.
What you can publish
The formats are questions, answers, column articles, "thoughts", comments, podcasts, video and broadcasts. Rights: the copyright in original content belongs to the user, but the user grants the platform a free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable and sublicensable worldwide licence — regardless of whether the content has been deleted; the rights to collectively edited material (question wordings, descriptions and topic structure) belong to Zhihu, and reprinting outside the platform requires the author's permission and the note «发表于知乎» with a link.
Prohibited topics are listed at length — from material contradicting the basic principles of the Chinese constitution to rumours, pornography, gambling and defamation; singled out are denigration of the feats of heroes and martyrs and the glorification of wars of aggression, as well as "unhealthy" content: lurid headlines unrelated to the content, whipping up scandals, inappropriate comments on disasters, and incitement of discrimination. A recent provision on AI: material created by generative AI may not be passed off as genuine, prominent labelling is required, and otherwise the platform may add a label, restrict or block.
How to grow
The company does not publicly describe its feed algorithm. From the reporting it is known that the distribution channels are feeds, search, "hot topics", subscription recommendations and AI-based features, and AI itself is used among other things for moderation.
Rules on advertising and self-promotion for companies
Zhihu's most practical document for a marketer is 《知乎机构号使用规范（试行）》, the "Rules on the use of an institutional account (trial version)". The prohibitions are set out directly and with examples:
- Inducing users — coercing, inducing or hiring others to follow, click links, share, give upvotes or answer questions; the examples include prize draws for likes and a gift for "the hundredth person to upvote".
- Commissioned publications — inviting users to write advertising and "soft" material for a brand, preparing the text yourself and asking someone to post it, asking for upvotes or for the questions you want to be asked, poaching authors through direct messages.
- Intrusive marketing — a large volume of direct messages and comments; the same answer under different questions; frequent invitations to events.
- The profile as an advertising carrier — an avatar with a QR code, a mention of a WeChat account and other redirecting details in the organisation's information.
- Off-profile material — publications unrelated to the organisation's identity as declared at registration; specific advice to individual users on investment and medical treatment.
- Manipulation and competitors — machine-driven accumulation of followers and upvotes, and creating tools for it; discussing other brands without their written consent where this harms them; fraudulent promotion and advertising of counterfeit goods.
Path to monetization
The scale for the first quarter of 2026: revenue of 651.6 million yuan ($94.5 million), of which marketing services accounted for 191.4 million yuan and paid content and intellectual property operations for 402.3 million yuan; a gross margin of 59.6% and a net loss of 8.5 million yuan. The annual trend is downward: from 4.2 billion yuan in 2023 to 3.6 billion in 2024 and 2.7 billion in 2025. The company publishes no payout thresholds, revenue share rates or transfer geography in its open documents.
Tools and automation
Zhihu has no public API for third-party developers, and this is the platform's position rather than a gap in our checking. The agreement prohibits unauthorised plugins and third-party tools, including any automated programs for accessing Zhihu and collecting its information; appropriating platform data by crawling, capture, or simulated downloading and registration; and using Zhihu's content to develop technologies, including large language models and other artificial intelligence systems, and for data training without written permission. The ban on training models is worded directly — take it into account.
At the same time the platform has an AI service of its own: «知乎直答» (Zhihu Zhida) answers queries by drawing on community content, licensed partner material and files uploaded to "My knowledge base"; the rights to what is entered stay with the user, the platform claims no rights to the result, but commercial use is prohibited.
Limits and rules
The sanctions for institutional accounts are described with numbers: a posting ban of 1 day, 7 days or an indefinite block — depending on severity, with the right to announce the decision publicly; an example of how the general rules work: if an account has 2 pieces of material removed for unfriendliness in a single day, the account gets a one-day ban. Appeals go by letter to the support address or by direct message to the moderation account 知乎小管家 ("the housekeeper").
The legal framework is Chinese: the place where the agreement is concluded is Haidian district in Beijing, and mainland Chinese law applies. Penalties may reach beyond the platform: measures are applied consistently across the company's related products.
Who it's for
Zhihu suits companies that work with mainland China in earnest and are ready for the formalities: you need the organisation's documents, a responsible person with identity document details and, for licensed industries, permits. In exchange come a young audience with a female majority and a working paid content model.
It does not suit anyone counting on "soft" promotion: commissioned publications, buying upvotes, prize draws for likes and QR codes in the profile are named outright as breaches carrying a block. It does not suit anyone who needs automation: there is no public API and automated access programs are prohibited. And it does not suit anyone who wants to use the platform's material to train models — that is a separate, direct prohibition.
Verified data
The checked data this deep dive rests on.
About the platform
the platform describes itself as follows: «知乎，中文互联网高质量的问答社区和创作者聚集的原创内容平台，于 2011 年 1 月正式上线，以「让人们更好的分享知识、经验和见解，找到自己的解答」为品牌使命。知乎凭借认真、专业、友善的社区氛围、独特的产品机制以及结构化和易获得的优质内容，聚集了中文互联网科技、商业、影视、时尚、文化等领域最具创造力的人群，已成为综合性、全品类、在诸多领域具有关键影响力的知识分享社区和创作者聚集的原创内容平台，建立起了以社区驱动的内容变现商业模式。»
Self-description: this is the platform's claim about itself, not an independent assessment
source, checked 2026-07-28
the product is «lawfully owned and operated by 北京智者天下科技有限公司 (Beijing Zhizhe Tianxia Technology Co., Ltd.) and its affiliates» · the source is dated 2025-03-20
From the user agreement, version of 20 March 2025
source, checked 2026-07-28
Zhihu Inc. is a company with a dual primary listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ZH) and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX: 2390); the service launched in 2010
The investor section
source, checked 2026-07-28
Sources diverge: in facts.tsv Zhihu's self-description is recorded from the address https://www.zhihu.com/signin?next=%2F — from the login page rather than the home page; today a request to www.zhihu.com is also redirected to the login page
The discrepancy is recorded as a separate entry as required by the task
source, checked 2026-07-28
Who's here
as of 31 December 2025 — 80.3 million cumulative content creators who had created 953.9 million pieces of content across more than 1,000 thematic verticals
The annual report on Form 20-F for 2025
source, checked 2026-07-28
«over 73.2% of our active users were under 30, and female users accounted for 59.6% of our total number of active users in December 2025»
Issuer data as of December 2025
source, checked 2026-07-28
average monthly paying subscribers: 14.5 million in 2023, 15.0 million in 2024, 13.5 million in 2025; 13.1 million in the first quarter of 2026
The quarterly release and the annual report; the trend is downward
source, checked 2026-07-28
Account and access
before publishing content, starting a broadcast and a number of other actions, registration and real-identity confirmation are required in accordance with the requirements of Chinese state law
The «账号及密码安全» section
source, checked 2026-07-28
it is prohibited to give away, lend, rent out, transfer or sell an account, and to register accounts maliciously and en masse; the platform has the right to freeze or reclaim an account not logged into for more than 6 consecutive months
From the terms of service
source, checked 2026-07-28
Business terms
the official format for a company presence is 机构号 (jīgòu hào): a channel for companies, organisations, public associations and state bodies that allows the services to be used on behalf of an organisation
The institutional account registration agreement
source, checked 2026-07-28
an account is opened on an email address linked neither to a personal account nor to another institutional one; the type of organisation is chosen at submission and does not change once registration is complete; the organisation's qualifications, the account details and the details of the responsible person are checked
The «账号入驻流程» section
source, checked 2026-07-28
one responsible person is appointed; a real name, phone number, identity document and accompanying documents are submitted for them; a minor cannot be the responsible person
The «账号管理» section
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if the activity or what is published requires a permit or registration by law, the corresponding documents are submitted when registering the account; otherwise Zhihu has the right to refuse or to end the service
Clause 2.7 of the agreement
source, checked 2026-07-28
after registration you can apply for platform verification: it gives access to reports on the account's data, levels of "institutional salt value", the right to open a column and to hold Zhihu Live
Clause 2.8 of the agreement
source, checked 2026-07-28
Content
it is prohibited to pass off material created on the basis of deep learning, virtual reality and generative AI as genuine; publishing such information requires prominent labelling, otherwise the platform has the right to add a label, restrict or block
The «使用规则» section
source, checked 2026-07-28
Advertising
an institutional account is prohibited from inviting Zhihu users to write advertising and "soft" material for a brand, from preparing the text itself and asking a user to post it, from asking for upvotes, comments or the questions it wants, and from poaching good authors through direct messages
Clause 4.1.2, examples of breaches
source, checked 2026-07-28
it is prohibited to coerce, induce or hire other users to follow the account, click links, share information, upvote answers and articles, follow questions and answer them; the examples include prize draws for likes and promises of a gift to "the hundredth person to upvote"
Clause 4.1.2
source, checked 2026-07-28
redirecting details are prohibited in the organisation's information: an avatar with a QR code, a mention of a WeChat account and the like, as well as content encouraging voting or following
Clause 4.1.10
source, checked 2026-07-28
How the money works here
the main channel for author monetization is the 盐选 (Yan Selection) paid subscription programme: access to a premium library (stories and novels, books and magazines, recorded and live lectures, audiobooks), with subscription terms from one to twelve months; payments to content providers are recorded in cost of revenues
The company does not disclose payout thresholds or revenue share rates
source, checked 2026-07-28
for the first quarter of 2026: revenue of 651.6 million yuan ($94.5 million), marketing services 191.4 million, paid content and intellectual property operations 402.3 million, other 57.8 million; a gross margin of 59.6%; a net loss of 8.5 million yuan
An unaudited quarterly release, Form 6-K
source, checked 2026-07-28
revenue fell from 4.2 billion yuan in 2023 to 3.6 billion in 2024 and 2.7 billion ($393.1 million) in 2025
The annual report on Form 20-F
source, checked 2026-07-28
Restrictions
it is prohibited to accumulate followers and upvotes artificially or by machine, and to create, publish and distribute methods and tools for manipulation
Clause 4.1.6
source, checked 2026-07-28
for breaching the institutional account rules, a posting ban of 1 day, 7 days or an indefinite block is applied, with the right to announce the decision publicly; example: 2 pieces of material removed for unfriendliness in one day — a one-day ban
The «处罚规则» section; appeals go by letter or by message to the account 知乎小管家
source, checked 2026-07-28
enforcement measures are applied consistently across the company's related products: a penalty on Zhihu may affect the use of related versions and vice versa
From the agreement
source, checked 2026-07-28
Legal
the copyright in original content belongs to the user, but the user grants Zhihu a free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable and sublicensable worldwide licence regardless of whether the content is deleted; the rights to collectively edited material (question wordings, descriptions and topic structure) belong to Zhihu
The «知识产权及相关权利» section
source, checked 2026-07-28
reprinting outside the platform requires separate permission from the author and the statement of their name, the source link and the note «发表于知乎» in a prominent place at the start of the material
From the agreement
source, checked 2026-07-28
the place where the institutional account agreement is concluded is Haidian district in Beijing; mainland Chinese law applies; disputes, if no agreement is reached, are referred to the court at the place where the agreement was concluded
The «其他» section
source, checked 2026-07-28
API access
there is no public API for third-party developers; the agreement prohibits any automated programs and tools for accessing Zhihu and collecting its information, and appropriating data by crawling, capture, or simulated downloading and registration
Point "b" of the section on using the platform
source, checked 2026-07-28
without Zhihu's written permission it is prohibited to use the platform's content for research and the development of technologies, including large language models, other artificial intelligence systems and algorithmic models, and for data training
A direct provision of the agreement
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform's own AI service «知乎直答» (Zhihu Zhida) answers queries by drawing on community content, licensed partner material, open sources and files uploaded to "My knowledge base"; the rights to what is entered stay with the user, the platform claims no rights to the generated result, and commercial use of the result is not permitted
From the agreement
source, checked 2026-07-28
Languages
the interface language of the home page: zh
The language is taken from the markup attribute, the versions from hreflang
source, checked 2026-07-28
the user agreement, the institutional account usage rules and the registration agreement are published in Chinese only; no English versions of these documents were found
English is present only in the investor section
source, checked 2026-07-28
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