ByteDance and Alibaba became the latest companies to find themselves in hot water as China continues work to ensure the wellbeing of users, with company chiefs facing a grilling a day after the nation commenced a fresh crackdown on malicious online material.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) targeted ByteDance over posts on its Toutiao news platform and Alibaba for content from browser division UCWeb a day after announcing a two-month campaign to clean up the online sector.

Toutiao drew the regulator’s eye for failing to fulfil information content management duties, CAC stated. The site presented “negative information” on its main search list and prominently featured related topics which the regulator believes damaged the “network ecology”.

UCWeb is being targeted for breaches involving frequent display of information from unauthorised sources on its main search function. CAC stated issues spanned areas including “online violence” and child privacy, ordering investigation and suitable penalties.

In each case, CAC explained a “clear and healthy cyberspace is in the interests of the people” and it would maintain a focus on “prominent violations of laws and regulations”.

CAC pledged to employ the “power of cyber law enforcement”, though called on websites and platforms to self-police by ensuring they meet “their primary social responsibilities”.

Scrutiny of ByteDance and Alibaba comes a few days after CAC targeted social media site Weibo and short video outfit Kuaishou over the same concerns.

Crackdown
The two-month cleansing campaign announced yesterday (22 September) targets social media, short video and livestreaming platforms.

CAC explained it is concerned over the potential for online services to provoke extreme group conflict by using specific topics to stigmatise, or push intergroup disputes.

TV and film are other areas CAC is targeting, explaining these could also be used maliciously, for example producing false reports of “disasters, dangers, police incidents and other emergencies that could affect public safety” and cause anxiety.

Authorities previously spent two years cleaning up the broader tech sector in China, with other actions spanning the app sector and restricting the time children spend gaming.