Chinese short video platform Douyin and Kuaishou have taken swift action to suspend and shut down social media accounts involved in spreading or publishing extreme and improper content related to the outburst of violence against women at a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan, North China's Hebei Province.

Douyin, China’s domestic version of TikTok said on Sunday that it had banned 61 accounts for making inappropriate remarks toward the victims of the Tangshan violent assault, in which two women were injured and admitted to hospital. 

The incident began when one of the men attackers put his hand on a woman’s back in a local restaurant and she pushed him away. The attackers were seen striking the woman and her dining partners, repeatedly, even when one of the women was lying on the floor.

The incident, trending on  Chinese social media, has reignited massive debate about gender violence.

Douyin said that the accounts that tried to gain attention, make a profit or encourage others to commit illegal acts, which disturbed  the platform’s normal order. 

Douyin has called on users to work with the platform to help maintain a healthy and orderly network ecology, report illegal behavior to the platforms.

Chinese short video platform Kuaishou said it has also been aware that some of its users have tried to use fake usernames to profiteer from the Tangshan incident, or pose false information to confuse the public.

Kuaishou said it has verified counterfeit accounts through technical means and manual review, and imposed penalties including shutting down those accounts permanently. Currently, Kuaishou has dealt with a total of 1,442 illegal videos, 1,130 comments, and 37 illegal accounts.

The move followed Chinese Twitter-like social media Sina Weibo which said in a statement on Saturday that the platform had suspended 265 accounts for maliciously publishing extreme content aimed at stirring up hatred and gender conflict.

Global Times