Zhihu (02390) releases its 2025 ESG Report: Deepening expertise in professional community, further advancing knowledge inclusivity.

On April 17th, Zhihu (02390) officially released the 2025 ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) report, fully disclosing the practices and achievements in the areas of community governance, creator ecology, technological innovation, employee development, social responsibility, and green operations over the past year, demonstrating the responsibility of the community to drive high-quality industry development and sustainable social progress with professional expertise. Zhihu founder, chairman, and CEO Zhou Yuan stated that for the past fifteen years, Zhihu has always focused on user value, integrating social responsibility, corporate culture, and sustainable development. In the future, Zhihu will continue to uphold its original intention, work together with creators, users, and partners, create value through knowledge, and write a more warm and responsible chapter of sustainable development. Enhancing the community's expert network and comprehensively increasing creator income With professional discussions as its core positioning, Zhihu believes that everyone is an expert in a certain industry. The report shows that Zhihu has gathered over 80.3 million professional creators, establishing an expert network covering various fields. In 2025, academicians Han Jisheng, Pang Guofang, and Li Jian'an, along with top scientists, interacted with answerers during the nation's first science popularization month, inheriting the spirit of scientific research. Key figures such as Liu Zhendong, witness to the development of the first atomic bomb, Gu Ming, chief designer of "Tiankun," Li Da, chief designer of "Deep Blue," Huang Yanping, chief designer of "Super Carbon," Yu Shuo, sand control expert in the Taklimakan Desert, and Pu Jin, overall commander of the Zara Hydropower Station project in Tibet, all personally answered questions on Zhihu, passing on the power of scientific research. AI superstar teams such as DeepSeek, Kimi, and Jieyue Xingchen, as well as many AI practitioners like Wang Yu, Liu Zhiyuan, Bao Yungang, and Xu Huazhe, shared their AI development processes and achievements, promoting increasingly more cutting-edge AI technology to be understood and used by the public. By 2025, the commercial monetization capabilities of platform creators continued to strengthen, forming a diversified revenue system covering paid story reading, paid columns, copyright income, user rewards, and more, with over 70% penetration rate for high-level creators. In terms of copyright income, the scale of copyright income authors increased 6 times year-on-year, with overall copyright income for authors increasing by 139%, the highest individual copyright income exceeding 2 million yuan, more than 60 authors earning over 100,000 yuan, an increase of 244%. The revenue scale obtained by creators through user appreciation grew by over 200% year-on-year, and since the launch of paid columns at the end of 2024, it has helped hundreds of high-quality creators realize content monetization. At the same time, the platform continued to increase incentives for creators, with the total revenue scale of core subsidy projects increasing by nearly 70% year-on-year, the number of authors receiving subsidies growing by double digits, and the average subsidy income per person increasing by over 40%. Building a clear community ecosystem and actively practicing corporate social responsibility On the front of community governance, Zhihu actively maintains a "serious, professional, and friendly" community atmosphere, cracking down on illegal and irregular content such as online violence and online fraud, and actively improving AI governance. In 2025, Zhihu handled 387,000 cases of cheating accounts, blocked fraudulent amounts of approximately 18 million yuan through self-developed anti-fraud risk control models, and intercepted an average of 16,000 pieces of illegal AI content daily, earning the platform recognition for outstanding "clear" special action effectiveness. In response to online violence acts such as "opening boxes," Zhihu, along with multiple internet companies, law firms, and media organizations, established the CCIA Data Security Committee Anti-"Box Opening" Technology Working Group, creating an industry self-discipline collaboration mechanism. Furthermore, Zhihu strengthened copyright protection, identifying over 35,000 infringement clues throughout the year and harshly cracking down on piracy through civil and criminal litigation to protect the original ecosystem. In terms of social responsibility, Zhihu focuses on digital inclusion and public welfare practices. By optimizing barrier-free community construction, it pays attention to the needs of young people, the elderly, and disabled users; jointly initiated the "Psychological Resonance Plan" with the Chinese Psychological Health Association, providing emotional guidance and psychological support education; leveraging the power of professional creators to support rural revitalization, completing 258 targeted public welfare activities throughout the year. Significant achievements in employee development and green operations. By the end of 2025, the proportion of female employees reached 57%, with a 100% coverage rate for employee training and an average training time of 15.6 hours per person. In terms of green office practices, the annual electricity saving of office buildings exceeded 380,000 kilowatt-hours, with a 15% year-on-year reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, a 100% rate of harmful waste recycling and processing, actively working towards the "dual carbon" goal. In the future, Zhihu will continue to deepen ESG governance, build on a foundation of professional content ecology, and continue to focus on community construction, technological innovation, social welfare, and green development, collaborating with all parties to create a new ecosystem of sustainable development and create long-term value for the industry and society.