Bytedance’s Toutiao under fire for pornographic content

This past weekend, various media outlets published what appeared to be a government press release about a recent crackdown on porn. Two content aggregators, Bytedance’s popular Jinri Toutiao and Doubao Kuxun, were singled out for hosting “vulgar” content. Both received temporary suspension of certain services, as well as an unspecified “maximum administrative penalty.”

The investigation was carried out by Beijing’s Cultural Law Enforcement Agency in accordance with tipoffs by China’s national office for “wiping out porn and fighting illegal publications” (扫黄打非, our translation).

In October, the agency began its investigation into Jinri Toutiao, eventually uncovering 16 pornographic articles on the app’s “Stories” channel. The report doesn’t specify exactly what kind of content they comprised, although it does offer a couple of salacious titles such as “After an incredible night, it turned out that man was her new boss” (also our translation).

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