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Douyin - China's domestic version of TikTok, owned by tech firm ByteDance - was fined the maximum amount possible for spreading obscene, pornographic and vulgar contents on Friday.

Some users have sexual provocations, sexual suggestions, and smoking in their live broadcasts, and the comment barrage in some live broadcast rooms contain vulgar content. 

Video game broadcasts are not approved and often contain blood, violence, terror-related contents. Some Douyin streamers and commenters also lead users to other platforms for illegal activities by publishing WeChat accounts and QR codes, the office for pornographic and vulgar content censorship said on Friday.

The office said giant internet platforms have a huge number of users, and once harmful content is publicly distributed, it will have extremely bad effects. 

Strengthening the content supervision of large-scale internet companies is to promote a healthier development on track with the rule of law, which is conducive to standardizing the order of network communication and building a large environment of healthy competition. 

The regulatory authorities should sound the alarm for security management in a timely manner to remind internet companies that they must not forget their main responsibility for content security, the office said.

In 2020, the office received more than 900 tips that reflected the spread of pornographic and vulgar information on the Douyin platform.

The penalty for Douyin will not be its first, or its last, and internet platforms should be treated equally before supervision regardless of their size, according to a comment posted on xinhuanet.com

How to maintain a healthy and orderly environment amidst rapid development is a question that every internet platform needs to think about, the comment said.

Global Times