The case of a shocking event in Shanghai, one of the most lively cities in China, has attracted criticism and sparked a national discussion about the negative aspect of the obsession with social media, calling into question the parental role, and provoking hard legal repercussions.
At the beginning of 2025, two 17-year-old boys, whose last names are Wu and Tang, performed a disgusting joke on a location of a popular hotpot chain franchise Haidilao.
When the teens were eating with friends, they went to a private room and each of them entered a table then crawled inside on to a pot of hot broth and urinated inside the pot, laughing and capturing the action with the camera.
The video was shared on Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) and quickly became popular, causing a general uproar in the country.
Nearly 4,000 Customers Affected
Investigations that followed later discovered that nearly 4000 diners had eaten food cooked with the contaminated broth. The viral video led to a PR catastrophe of Haidilao, which resulted in major financial losses.
Within a short period of time, the restaurant acted promptly and shut down the branch under investigation and refunded all the affected customers.
A spokesperson of Haidilao said, This has had a devastating impact on our brand image. Customer health and safety are absolutely important to us.
Teens’ Families Pay 2.2 Million Yuan
The video, which was subsequently deleted, had spread extensively in screenshots and screen recordings. Netizens labelled the teens as vile, morally bankrupt, and others wondered about the parents and the effects of social media.
Since the offenders were underage they were not incarcerated. A Shanghai court however made a landmark ruling on September 16, 2025. The court fined the families a total of 2.2 million yuan (about Rs 2.5 crore or $300,000) under the civil code in China that holds parents responsible when their underage children are found guilty of such acts.
This was to cater losses to Haidilao, such as compensating customers, brand reputation, and investigation expenses. The families also had to release a formal official apology on the Chinese social platform Weibo.
Judge Takes A Firm Stand
At a court hearing, the judge commented: This is not just a great health risk but an insult to decency in the society. This judgment was shocking to the families.
Wu says his father, a businessman, told local media: Our children had made a big mistake. We will respect the court ruling, though that has been heartbreaking to our family. Deep regret was also voiced by the parents of Tang, showing that the boys were also grappling with drug addiction.
The court sentenced the two teens, as part of the ruling, to community services, psychological counselling and a ban on social media.
