China Punishes ByteDance for Vulgar and Problematic Content

by Kay Lee

The Cyberspace Administration of China has fined Xigua, also known as Watermelon Video. It’s a video service owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, which owns the TikTok social network. Sanctions were imposed because of the distribution of vulgar content on the video service platform.

The regulator conducted an audit of 31 major video platforms, ten of which were fined. In addition, Xigua, Huya, DouYu, and Bilibili streaming services were fined. One of the largest investment and venture companies Tencent invested in some of these services.

In addition to the fine, the department banned video services from registering new users and generating updates for apps, as TikTokers use the app to distribute pornographic materials and organize online gambling.

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The regulator's message says that all punished video services violate the basic values of socialism, jeopardize the healthy upbringing of youth, and spoil society's atmosphere.

@spencetwins

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♬ Savage - Megan Thee Stallion
@ondreazlopez

Coño 😳🔥

♬ Coño (feat. Jhorrmountain x Adje) - Puri
@lindslacroix

part 2 with grandma coming in for the second look ##fyp

♬ Woah - KRYPTO9095

Scandals with ByteDance have already happened before. In 2018, TikTok short video sharing service was convicted of illegally collecting data about children under 13 without their parents' consent in the United States. As a result, the Federal Trade Commission ordered the social network to pay $5.7.

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